The Rural Telecommunications Group told its members they can shut...
The Rural Telecommunications Group told its members they can shut down the operation of all cell signal boosters already in consumer hands on their networks, which don’t meet the requirements of last week’s FCC order (http://bit.ly/WncMtV). “Some service providers such…
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as AT&T and Verizon Wireless may be totally unwilling to support legacy boosters,” RTG said in a brief to its members (http://bit.ly/XF7dox). “Members of RTG have complete freedom to either allow for the continued use of legacy boosters or require their customers to completely stop their operation. In addition, if non-conforming legacy boosters are causing interference to other service providers operating in the same market, those affected service providers (or the FCC) can shut-down the offending boosters.” “The order was, unfortunately, quite specific on this point,” said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld, whose group raised concerns about cell boosters already in use. “Hopefully, rural carriers will consider the needs of their customers when making these decisions. But the plain fact is that the FCC permits carriers to order customers to shut down boosters without any evidence that the boosters are causing interference issues. As a result, those customers that most need boosters, and have the fewest (if any) choice of providers, find themselves entirely at the mercy of their carrier.”