Author: pmg

Many Towns complain that it it would undercut their zoning powers.

by Bob Fernandez, June 18, 2019 | Original Philadelphia Inquirer article here.

Pennsylvania lawmakers canceled a vote Tuesday on proposed legislation that would make it easier and cheaper for wireless carriers to blanket cities, towns, and rural areas with thousands of small cell antennas on utility poles for 4G and next-generation 5G wireless services. It was the third defeat for the Verizon- and AT&T-backed legislation.

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1. Link to Pennsylvania 5G bill that failed twice springs back to life in Harrisburg]
2. Link to What are those brown boxes on light poles across the Philly region? Government surveillance? Alien invasion?
3. Link to xxx Verizon stopped paying local N.J. taxes. Now, a powerful legislator wants to sock it to the company.

Municipal officials and unions said they weren’t consulted on the bill, sponsored by Rep. Frank Farry (R., Langhorne).

Initially scheduled for Monday in the House Consumer Affairs Committee, Republican leaders delayed the vote until Tuesday and then canceled it altogether in the face of strong opposition.

Continue reading “PA State Legislators Pull the State Bill to Greenlight Installation of Densified 4G/5G Close Proximity Microwave Radiation Antennas”

by Karl Bode | Apr 18 2019 } Original Motherboard article here.

Many of the laws restricting local voters’ rights were directly written by a Telecom sector terrified of real broadband competition.

A new report has found that 26 states now either restrict or outright prohibit towns and cities from building their own broadband networks. Quite often the laws are directly written by the telecom sector, and in some instances ban towns and cities from building their own broadband networks—even if the local ISP refuses to provide service.

The full report by BroadbandNow, a consumer-focused company that tracks US broadband availability, indicates the total number of state restrictions on community broadband has jumped from 20 such restrictions since the group’s last report in 2018.

Continue reading “26 States Now Ban or Restrict Community Broadband”

By Mark Cooper, Apr 17, 2019 | Original Press Release here.

Appeals Court Must Stop Billions of Dollars of Illegal Costs Dumped on Local Telephone Customers

Washington, D.C. – Mark Cooper, Director of Research for the Consumer Federation of America, joined a law suit challenging the decision of the Federal Communication Commission¹ to extend the allocation of costs between federal and state jurisdictions that was adopted in 2000 for another six years.

Continue reading “FCC Cost Misallocation Raises Bills, Undermines Competition, and Widens the Digital Divide”

By Karl Bode, Apr 13 2019 | Original Motherboard article here.

Phone companies won’t upgrade DSL lines, and cable companies won’t expand their service maps.

New FCC data indicates that competition in the broadband market is virtually nonexistent at faster speeds. Most people are intimately familiar with their lack of alternatives to unpopular incumbent ISPs like Comcast. The inability to vote with your wallet is a major reason U.S. broadband customers pay some of the highest prices in the developed world, and these companies sport some of the worst customer satisfaction ratings of any industry in America.

And while the scattered deployment of Google Fiber and other gigabit connections tend to grab headlines that make us feel good about progress on this front, the reality is that in a large number of American markets the problem is actually getting worse.

Continue reading “Why Broadband Competition at Faster Speeds is Virtually Nonexistent”

$20 billion over 10 years to connect up to 4 million rural homes and businesses.

​By Jon Brodkin Apr 12, 2019 | Original Ars Technica article here

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is proposing a $20.4 billion rural broadband fund that could connect up to four million homes and small businesses over the next ten years.

The new program will be part of the Universal Service Fund (USF), and it will be similar to an existing USF program that began during the Obama administration. In 2015, the USF’s Connect America Fund (CAF) awarded $9 billion for rural broadband deployment—$1.5 billion annually for six years—in order to connect 3.6 million homes and businesses.

Carriers that accepted the CAF money are required to finish the broadband deployments by the end of 2020. Pai’s proposed Rural Digital Opportunity Fund will be the follow-on program, an FCC spokesperson told Ars. The fund would "inject $20.4 billion into high-speed broadband networks in rural America over the next decade," the FCC said.

At $2 billion a year over ten years, the fund will provide more money each year over a longer period of time than the CAF program it would replace. It will also fund higher-speed services. The CAF funding only required carriers, including AT&T and CenturyLink, to deploy broadband with speeds of at least 10Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream.

Continue reading “Ajit Pai Proposes $20 Billion for Up to Gigabit-Speed Rural Broadband”

By Brian Fung, April 12, 2019 | Original Washington Post article here.

A cellular phone tower. The Trump administration will soon auction more bandwidth to allow 5G wireless service (Jeff Roberson/AP)

The Trump administration and government regulators are expected to unveil a major push Friday afternoon at the White House to accelerate the rollout of the high-speed, next-generation mobile data technology known as 5G.

Under the plan, the Federal Communications Commission will release a wide swath of high-frequency airwaves for cellular use in what will be the largest trove of U.S. wireless spectrum ever to be auctioned off. As much as 3.4 gigahertz of so-called “millimeter-wave” spectrum could be sold to wireless carriers such as AT&T and Verizon in the sale, which will begin Dec. 10, according to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

Continue reading “5G is About to Get a Big Boost from Trump and the FCC”

Pai brings ALEC to FCC despite AT&T and Verizon quitting the controversial group.

​By Jon Brodkin, April 12, 2019 } Original Ars Technica article here.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai speaking at a press conference on October 1, 2018, in Washington, DC.

A committee that advises the Federal Communications Commission on consumer-related matters now includes a representative of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which lobbies against municipal broadband, net neutrality, and other consumer protection measures.

Continue reading “FCC Consumer Advisory Panel Includes ALEC, a Big Foe of Municipal Broadband”

Adappted from an article by Bruce Kushnick, Apr 8, 2019 | Original Medium article here.

The IRREGULATORS are appealing a recent FCC decision that tries to fix one of the largest accounting scandals in American history. It is directly tied to AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink’s State Public Telecom Utliity companies.

Click to Read the Details and learn how to help out.

Nineteen years ago, the FCC, (with the help of AT&T, Verizon and Centurylink) ‘froze’ the cost accounting rules that are used to divide up the expenses of the different subsidiary companies owned by the Telecom Holding Cos. — subsidiaries that share the use of the State Public Telecom Utillity Co. (SPTU) Wireline telecommunications infrastructure (the copper and Fiber Optic wirelines in each state).

In December 2018, the FCC extended this freeze for six more years, through 2025. Unbelievably, for almost two decades the FCC never audited the books. But what is most surprising is — this has been completely under the radar of mainstream media and under the noses of our elected representatives in Washington, DC.

AT&T, Verizon et al. figured out that they could use these FCC accounting rules, (which few know even exist), to force the SPTUs in each state to pay the majority of many expenses for the private Wireless subsidiaries. This trick allowed the Telecom Holding Cos. to artificially make the entire Wireline telecommunications networks in America appear to be unprofitable. These rules also enabled the other Holding Co. subsidiaries that share the use of these Wireline networks to get a free ride.

Most people don’t know that there are still SPTUs, like Verizon-NY, Verizon-MA or AT&T-CA. In addition, few know that these SPTUs are more than just the copper wires: in fact, the SPTUs in each state own and maintain nearly all of the wires within each state — copper and fiber optic. This scheme diverted billions of dollars of construction budgets in each state to pay for

• FiOS internet and video, Verizon’s fiber-to-the-home service (FTTH)
• U-Verse internet and video, AT&T’s fiber-and-then-copper-to-the-home DSL service,
• Private Wireless subsidiaries (Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility and others) use of the Wireline infrastructure — the special access copper and fiber, also known or business data services — for data “back haul”.

Continue reading “IRREGULATORS vs. FCC: Exposing One of the Largest Accounting Scandals in American History”

By Karl Bode, Apr 8 2019 | Original Motherboard article here

5G will provide faster speeds to urban users, but cost and widespread availability could remain stumbling blocks for many years to come.

To hear wireless carriers tell it, fifth-generation (5G) wireless is going to change the world. Verizon, for example, insists the technology is

• part of a “fourth industrial revolution”
• heralding the smart cities of tomorrow.

Continue reading “5G May Never Live up to the Hype”

The Thousand Oaks’ and Simi Valley’s Wireless Council’s consultant can see beauty in this? Words fail me when I try to explain the mind of a human who could see beauty in a cell tower, and not in the landscape… Take a look at this latest tweet . . . unbelievable:

Read Jonathon Kramer’s recent tweet.

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From: elitster@simivalley.org
To: kebrahim01@aol.com
Sent: 4/7/2019 8:28:36 PM Pacific Standard Time
Subject: RE: Celll Towers in our Neighborhoods

Dear Kio,

I was very sorry to read your email and hear of your struggles with brain cancer. I commend you for being a fighter and pressing forward with your life and contribution to our community.

Thank you for taking the time to share your concern about 5G cell tower installations.

The federal government and specifically the Federal Communications Commission has established guidelines or rules that mandate the access and installation of cell towers. Because of this, the city council took proactive steps to draft an ordinance that restricts cell tower installation on aesthetic grounds and limits their installation in residential areas. Aesthetic considerations is the one area wherein the FCC allows restrictions and local control. We have done this so we can protect our citizens as best we can while lawsuits and lobbying takes place at the Federal level. Because this is federally mandated, I encourage you to share your concerns with our US Senator and Representative.

I certainly am concerned for the health and welfare of our citizens and will be watching this issue closely.

Sincerely,

Elaine Litster
City of Simi Valley
Council Member

On 4/6/19, Kio Ebrahimzadeh wrote:

From: kebrahim01@aol.com kebrahim01@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, April 06, 2019 3:31 PM
To: Mayor Mashburn; Mayor Pro Tem Cavanaugh; Council Member Judge; Council Member Luevanos; Council Member Litster
Subject: Celll Towers in our Neighborhoods

Dear Honorable Mayor Mashburn and Honorable Simi Valley City Council Members,

I am contacting you in regards to allowing Cell Towers to be installed on our light poles in residential neighborhoods. I became aware of this on 4/5/19, and I want to share my personal experiences with you on this subject, because this is a serious health risk for your residents. I am not able to attend the City Council meeting on this subject, as I have a critical routine of rest, diet, and exercise that I have to follow each day to have a normal day for me. Therefore I am contacting you about this via email.

My name is Kio Ebrahimzadeh. I am a Retired Simi Valley Police Officer. I have been living in Simi Valley since 2003. The reason I was retired was because of stage 3 brain cancer which was determined to be a work related injury for Police Officers and Fire Fighters because of our exposure to EMFs and RFs from our radio equipment while we were on duty.

The incidences are currently low, but the risks exist. My brain tumor was on my right temporal lobe directly below where our antennas were mounted on top of our patrol cars. Therefore the location of my brain tumor directly correlates to where I sat in the patrol car as the driver.

My brain cancer was discovered on Jan. 4, 2001 when I had a grand mall seizure while on duty. At that time I was an Oxnard Police Officer. I had created a wonderful life for myself, and had worked hard to get there after completing a 4 year college degree. I was in a career that I loved, Police work wasn’t work for me. I earned 3 commendations from the Ventura County District Attorney’s office during my career that got cut short. I also earned two 10851 VC Awards from the State/CHP for recovering stolen vehicles at Oxnard PD. I still hold those records at Oxnard PD.

Continue reading “Brain Cancer Survivor Story”