Hmmmm.

They aren’t and should thus shut up.

The correct solution is to mandate that the utilities pay any costs needed to bring a pole up to code. An attacher should only be liable for the difference between the cost to bring the pole up to code and the cost to enable the new attachment.

The Korean ISPs are clearly abusing their termination monopoly and using regulatory capture to cash in on their monopoly.

The author is a shill for the Korean ISPs.

This need not be the case, but it will be unless States invest in a device driven, data VALIDATION initiative that delivers Challenge and Litigation ready data.

What is detailed below is PAgCASA’s paper on the FCC’s September 15 document detailing the Challenge process for state crowdsourced and bulk data. Our paper lists exactly how the ISPs will Challenge the State’s crowdsourced and bulk data with tried and proven methodology leaving the State no other choice but to accept the FCC’s data for their state.

PAgCASA Comments on the FCC’s Sept. 15th Document “Data Specifications for Bulk Fixed Availability Challenge and Crowdsource Data”

The key phrase in this FCC document notes an ISP’s right to challenge the crowdsourced or bulk data drawn from its service territory. Here is how ISPs will successfully challenge and disqualify state broadband map data.

Two general observations to start:

1. The ISPs are correct in challenging the data IF the data is corrupted or incapable of being validated and therefore should be disqualified.

2. The FCC, in partnership with the ISPs, are going along with the “crowdsourcing” challenge because the Broadband Data Act of 2020 was very specific in requiring that the FCC’s new data gathering methodology include third-party crowdsourced data. That said, third-party “crowdsourced” and “bulk” data are subject to the same challenge process that has successfully eliminated individual as well as early ‘crowdsourced” data in the past.

Here are the three most effective and often used ways ISPs successfully challenge and disqualify third-party data:

• Was the speed test launched from a device wirelessly? Modern modems set up a WAN (Wireless Area Network) around the premises over the one or two Wi-Fi channels allocated. Almost all devices (TV, laptops, smart phones, home security systems, etc.) are now connected wirelessly to the modem. A wireless launch of a speed test, e.g., from your laptop or smart phone, therefore affects/corrupts the network speed test and disqualifies the data.
​
• Was the on-premises modem “still” when the speed test was taken? By “still” the ISP is referring to the modem’s management of data coming from any device remotely or over cable (ethernet connected) during the time of the test. For example, if a family member is working on their laptop, doing homework, in their room in the evening, the modem’s management of the data from the laptop will affect a speed test taken during that time. This will disqualify the speed test data.

• Was the crowdsourced and or bulk data drawn exclusively from the ISP’s premium service customers? The FCC stipulates that the speed testing data must be drawn from an ISP’s customers who have purchased the service provider’s best available service package (premium package). This is understandable since a customer might not need, or be able to afford, service at the 25/3 “Broadband” level (now viewed as unserved) or 100/20 (underserved) level and so would purchase the less expensive, less robust, service package offered by the ISP. For purposes of accurate speed testing, the ISP should not be penalized for offering/providing true broadband-speed service that is ultimately passed over for a cheaper (slower) service by a given customer.

Alone, or in combination, these three scenarios have succeeded year after year in ensuring that third-party data, crowdsourced or otherwise, has not made it past the challenge process and onto the FCC’s approved maps. And once again, states will be facing these same tried and true challenge techniques from the ISPs – and will be left to settle for what the FCC map data dictates – unless states take a new tack this time around to challenge-proof their data.

PAgCASA’s on-premises, cybersecure, network monitoring methodology — which deploys the same network monitoring devices the major ISPs use, on wired/ethernet-connected customer modems, from a volunteer pool of an ISP’s premium service customers selected using standardized random sampling methods — will, in fact, address ALL the challenge issues above and generate data ready for litigation.

Consider this: a one percent delta between the FCC and state maps translated into a total $400 million based on an overall federal broadband infrastructure spend of $40 billion. A 10 percent delta equals a staggering $4 billion that will not make its way to genuinely unserved or underserved communities across the country.

If your state wants to receive its full, legitimate federal funding share vs. what the ISPs and FCC map data allows, then please contact Garland McCoy, Executive Director at PAgCASA (garland.mccoy@pagcasa.org), a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to ensure broadband map accuracy, connectivity, and rural prosperity.

““Buy America” provision that require domestically purchased materials to make up more than 55 percent of the cost of all components of the project.”

Should read

“must be greater than 55 percent of the total cost of all components of the manufactured product.”

As a member of the Carrier Community, AireSpring takes its responsibilities very seriously and we are vigilant in monitoring our network for robocall activity. While no solution is foolproof, we work to block such calls in real time before they ever complete. We have implemented multiple best of breed technologies such as the YouMail zero-hour robocall mitigation platform, AI-powered analytics, call blocking, and STIR/SHAKEN to suppress and combat such robocalls from taking place, which represent less than 0.000001% of calls on our network.

Ellen Cahill
SVP Marketing
AireSpring

We must look at the solution to solve the nations broadband issues as having a toolbox and we use the best tool for the solution. Our approach saves the Governments and users more money than using only fiber. Learn what we are Aer Wireless and Mage Networks are doing.

That’s not correct. The February 2022 sunset date was announced years (yes, years) ago. AT&T merely re-confirmed the date would hold.