One word — Nomophobia. Yes friends a new word to add to the lexicon. Nomophobia is the fear of NOT being connected either by cell phone or some other form of wireless. The researchers that did the study say over 50% of the users may have the phobia. Take it with a grain of salt, but here it is –

Getting married, starting a job or going to the dentist have long been recognised as sources of great stress.

But it seems they are now matched by a new, peculiarly 21st century affliction - the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.

Millions apparently suffer from “no mobile phobia” which has been given the name nomophobia.

They have become so dependent on their mobile that discovering it is out of charge or simply misplacing it sends stress levels soaring.

Personally I believe them. I have several times seen people I know go blotto when the phone goes dead.

Linky.

For mobile connectivity, this could be a monster of a deal. Mix EVDO and Wifi for wireless access and add dial up when the other two can’t be found. It’s a new Ipass service.

Their new service, iPassConnect Mobility Service, is an attempt to appeal to regular business travelers and individuals. With plans that start at $30 per month, the offerings are comparable in many ways to Boingo, but have a couple of interesting twists that may appeal to a different set of travelers. Notably, all plans include dial-up service, and two of four plans include unlimited 3G (US only, over EVDO).

No one offers a combination of service that’s comparable in scope or price to iPass’s new offering. While Boingo Wireless is cheaper ($22 per month for North America, $39 for global) with a similar Wi-Fi footprint, travelers that need 3G for its ubiquity and dial-up for its use as a backstop have no better choice than iPass. (Wifi Net News)

If you were trying to convince the FCC to allow broadband access on unlicensed TV channels, would you trust this man with delivering a prototype device? Well, that’s what the white spaces coalition did, twice. The result? The same company whose former CEO made news by bringing up the blue screen of death when demoing new products to large audiences several times goofed again. Not once, but TWICE!

Memo to White Spaces Alliance: Guys, you have some very competent members. Handing the development of a critical prototype to Microsoft is like handing the game winning ball to a bench warmer. You should know better!

(more on Yahoo News)

In what is a delicious turn of events Sony/BMG is being accused of software piracy! That’s right while BMG rails against others via the RIAA on music piracy they are caught with their hands in the cookie jar themselves. PointDev –

We are not interested in an amicable settlement. It is not just a question of money but more importantly in principle. The rate of software piracy in the company is very high. According to the Business Software Alliance, a association of the major publishers in the market, 47 percent of programs used in the company would be [unlawful] in France…

Plucky little PointDev is going after them. I can’t wait to see the demand letter from them. “We have already ascertained your guilt and have the evidence to prove it…” Delicious.

Is this a great planet or what??

Linky.

Well now, we find out they are bugging out of some States. Well now some enterprisng souls have been doing some sluething on the qualify of HD signals coming from Comcast. And what do they say? –

The Comcast channels with added compression are listed as follows, grouped by QAM.

Discovery Channel
SciFi
USA

Food
NatGeo
UHD

A&E
HGTV
Starz

Cinemax
HBO
TLC

Animal Planet
Discovery HD Theater
History HD

Extra compression was also applied to several other channels, presumably to make room for future channel additions. MHD is one such example.

So the question has to be asked. Is Comcast REALLY delivering HD or what I will coin a as BHD, [Botched HD]. All for the convenience of cramming more channels in infrastructure that needs upgrades and a move to DOCSIS3. So lets recap here –

• They pack public venues.
• They mislead customers.
• They Exit markets not wanting to compete.
• They have service you could die for — as in you will be dead before you get it.

I am glad I am no longer a customer.

Link to thread.

Like a thief in the night, Comcast is preparing to exit again the VoIP market in a couple of States. Specifically Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania. Service is to be discontinued by April 29th. Affected customers were notified in Jan. of this change of service. 911 emergency services will continue till end of May.

This is the third time we have reported Comcast’s exit of the VoIP market in other States. The question we have to ask is why does Comcast still keep advertising triple play services? Go to their website. They still advertise Digital Voice services. Ok yeah, in selected markets they have it. But that is not informing the customer. When making a purchase decision would you consider a triple play opportunity if you knew that they have already exited 10 States would you not consider their offer less than genuine?

And again we ask — if Comcast is continuing to exit the VoIP markets do they not just leave it open to the Verizon’s and AT&T’s. Vonage with its legal history of late is a wounded tiger in the VoIP market. Dangerous but reduced capacity. So the customer gets fewer and fewer choices.

FCC Notice.

When your only broadband option is expensive, slow, latency ridden, flaky satellite, most do opt out. It’s not relevant to the rural broadband discussion unless you want to hide the truth about poor rural access availability.

Here’s the sort of a quote that will earn you a lifetime of being identified as a empty suit:

David McClure, the CEO and president of the United States Internet Industry Association (USIIA), has penned a news report which claims that the digital divide in the United States is not caused by a lack of broadband availability but rather by slow broadband adoption. He goes so far as to say:

“As of 2008, virtually every U.S. household and business has access to broadband, and even in many rural areas has a choice of broadband technologies - fiber, wireless, cellular, cable DSL or satellite. While there is still work to be done to upgrade and enhance these choices, broadband deployment is active, vibrant and successful.” (Broadband Reports)

We are proud to present our coveted Ted Stevens special edition Foil Hat Award to David McClure.

We have a problem in Washington DC. Both political parties are out to lunch. The problem is that we have a duopoly and it has gotten worse with most of the 700 MHz spectrum just relased going to the incumbent telcos. Our politicians are only focused on the duopoly, not an open marketplace that is what is needed. Republicans want to regulate the duopoly less, and Democrats want more regulation of the duopoly under the guise of “net neutrality”.

Here’s an address that Secretary Kneuer gave along with Q and A. Download MP3

What is the best way to ensure fair network access and promote innovation in this potentially lucrative new space? Kneuer suggests that the applications industry has historically taken the access layer for granted, and is now pushing the government to insure that access. Regulators in Washington, D. C., however, are moving to a new model, the market. Rather than having the government setting rates, terms and conditions (a practice that promotes competition in the regulatory space, not the technology space), Kneuer proposes that market forces will advantage those companies that deliver the new products and services consumers want. He invites application companies to engage at the policy level, but also to step up in the new marketplace. From (IT Conversations)

This guy seems to have his heart in the right place, but he’s in denial about not having an open and competitive marketplace.  I hope this inspires a few you you to do a little lobbying of your own. For my part, I am.

 JohnKneuer: Download

Traditionally, local governments have undertaken the delivery of utilities when they have been under served by private enterprise. Traditionally when a monopoly is granted, lobbying of politicians continuously erodes regulation of these monopolies to be done in the public interest. In America, we have a duopoly that is increasingly interested in creating scarcity in open access and using new capacity exclusively for the delivery of proprietary, extra charge services. They defend their “turf” like mafia dons. AT&T and Cox fought hard to end the city of Lafayette, La’s self build of a fiber network, and lost.

The city of Lafayette, Louisiana fought hard against BellSouth and Cox, who tried desperately to scrap voter-approved plans to wire the city with fiber. While residents won’t be getting the promised symmetrical 10Mbps connections and IPTV bundles until next year, the city says they’re planning to offer free local Intranet connectivity to those who plug in to the fiber ring, according to App Rising. (Broadband Reports)

I seriously doubt the duopoly players have accepted the defeat. They’ll be back to try to kill this again, and again. If we had real competition in the marketplace, this would never happen. These companies would then have to focus on offering better faster cheaper instead of political skullduggery.

Well as is typical our ’some are more equal than others’ leaders have decided to attempt something about wireless carriers. Of course their ‘cure’ is more regulation –

“That all gives me reason to believe we have a cause to keep pushing,” Klobuchar said in an interview with RCR Wireless News. “Yes, this is an election year, but this is one of these issues that the public is really angry about, so sometimes that helps when it’s an election year.”

Klobuchar said she wants to work with another big consumer advocate, House telecom subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (DMass.), to get a bill through Congress to better safeguard wireless subscribers.

The cellphone industry has not embraced the Markey draft bill or the Klobuchar-Rockefeller legislation in large part because the measures would not eviscerate state regulation of terms and conditions of cellular service. A 1993 law outlawed state regulation of rates and market entry, but allowed states to oversee other areas of wireless service. As such, carriers prefer the national framework in a bill penned by Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), who wants state regulators completely out of the picture. The push for expanded federal pre-emption has divided state regulators around the country.

Hey Klobuchar, its not a consumer bill of rights we need as you are attempting to draft it. Its the legalese. If you really want to help the consumer, step back a minute and realize where the real problem lies — one way contracts and forced arbitration. Eliminate those provisions and we consumers can take care of the rest. But you won’t do that will you Amy? It gigs your legal lobby interests too much doesn’t it?

Just another damn lawyer.

Linky