Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Net Neutrality or Kiss Your House Goodbye?

Verizon Wireless gets a thumbs down during the northern California wildfires. They denied a request to un-throttle firefighters' phones.  These firefighters had subscribed to an "Unlimited" plan. 



Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Breakaway Wireless Breaks Away in Utah

Breakaway Wireless, the aptly-named cellular service of the Manti Communications Company in Utah, has indeed broken away.  This ultra-small carrier leaves a small hole in the middle of the state and their few customers have few choices...all bad.

As wireless advocates, we hope they will continue to use their network for other uses such as wireless Internet service (they haven't told us what they're doing with the network).  Before their breakaway, Breakaway shared the facilities of the Rural Independent Network Alliance (RINA) which now puts that cooperative association in jeopardy as they approach the critical number of subscribers to keep their other associated networks operating.  This may also affect a small number of Sprint roamers...but it's a very small number.

Monday, August 20, 2018

NMobile in New Mexico Calls it Quits

NMobile, the renamed cellular arm of the LEACO Rural Telephone Cooperative of Hobbs, New Mexico has thrown the big switch.  Their cellular service has been discontinued and their customers were left to fend for themselves as of June 30, 2018.  Sadly, the old LEACO network was one of the best around but serving a very small population that probably preferred to go with the 'big boys.'

LEACO advertises that their Internet service offers "LTE Wireless Internet", which we guess is the new use of their old cellular network, but we can't find anyone there who can either confirm or deny it.

Thursday, August 16, 2018

The Enemy Fighting 5G

You think 5G is just around the corner?  It is in some places, but there are some areas that will see 5G long after we see it in China.  The problem is the same brick wall wireless providers have faced for years...local government.  A typical case is in Austin, Texas where multiple city departments know that installing the small cell sites desired for 5G coverage requires far more permits, licenses and steps of bureaucracy there than they do in any other city in Texas, or almost any where else.

We're not getting on Austin's case, but we know this is a big obstacle in a number of cites, counties and similar fiefdoms of this country, and you might be living in one.  Just a heads up, you may need to check in with your town to make sure your chances of seeing 5G coverage aren't held back by some well-meaning friends and neighbors who still think telecommunications lives and dies by the dial tone.

Ask your community development director or building department how the small cell/5G process is moving along in your neighborhood.  The city where I live owns their own fiber backbone and they would be thrilled to hook it up to some small cells and make our burg a connected community.  Or so we think.  We won't know until we check.