Nov. 1-3 Broadband Expo, Gaylord Texan Resort, Dallas -- www.thebroadbandexpo.com

Hoping to refine its testing before tackling a special-access overhaul, the FCC issued a wide-ranging public notice seeking information on non-ILEC and “out of region” ILEC facilities. An FCC official told us the commission wants to come up with the right measuring stick for gauging special-access concerns. The notice, published late Thursday, promises that a separate data request is coming.

Congress is unlikely to make changes soon to retransmission consent rules despite stepped up lobbying by pay-TV companies trying to make the most of an ongoing dispute between Cablevision and News Corp., according to broadcast, cable and Capitol Hill officials. A bill on FCC handling of such disputes that Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has said he'll introduce soon (CD Oct 20 p1) seems unlikely to pass this Congress, they said. Legislators focused on getting re-elected means there’s less time to pay attention now to the blackout of three Fox TV stations owned by News Corp. on Cablevision systems in the New York area, a cable executive acknowledged.

The FCC has shipped 1,000 “white boxes” to academics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Georgia Tech, in an effort to test broadband speeds around the country, the commission said Thursday. The boxes are designed to be installed in consumers’ homes to track hourly data on broadband speed. By month-end, 10,000 of the boxes are scheduled to have gone out, Chief Walter Johnston of the commission’s Electromagnetic Compatibility Division told an agency meeting on broadband.

Representatives of wireline and cable companies met with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology officials to ask how much of a part fixed-wireless and satellite-broadband providers will play in the FCC’s hardware-based fixed-broadband performance testing program, run by SamKnows. The company representatives “expressed our joint position that fixed wireless and satellite broadband providers should be included in the SamKnows testing program,” said an ex parte letter. “We observed that exclusion of whole segments of the fixed broadband provider community could undermine the ‘proof of concept’ that SamKnows was tasked to achieve.” Attending the meeting were representatives of USTelecom, Windstream, CenturyLink, NCTA, Qwest and Frontier.

Lawmakers should incentivize U.S. telework adoption and dismantle barriers, said broadband proponents. Three teleworking supporters touted the economic and domestic benefits of alternative working environments Thursday at a USTelecom event in Washington. Among the projected benefits were reduced city traffic, lower carbon emissions, reduced dependence on foreign oil, increased personal freedom for employees and increased potential for those with disabilities.

The FCC gave interested parties until Thursday to comment on two separate appeals, each of which challenge the commission’s decision in the Corr Wireless Order (CD Sept 7 p1). Both SouthernLINC and Allied Wireless Communications asked the commission to review the Corr decision. Oppositions to SouthernLINC’s petition were due Tuesday but oppositions on Allied’s petition aren’t due until Friday. The commission changed the comment deadline for both petitions to Thursday.

AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, ZipDX and Level 3 signed a USTelecom letter urging the FCC to use the top 1 percent of minutes per line monthly as an indicator of so-called traffic pumping. At 2009 rates, the benchmark number would be 406 minutes per line per month limit, wrote USTelecom Vice President Glenn Reynolds, ZipDX CEO David Frankel, Verizon Vice President Donna Epps, AT&T Director Brian Benison, Qwest Vice President Melissa Newman and Level 3 Assistant Chief Legal Officer John Ryan. That would be three times the median minutes a line as established by the National Exchange Carriers Association Band 8 LECs, they said.

USTelecom joined the Family Online Safety Institute. Jonathan Banks, USTelecom senior vice president, will join FOSI’s board.

Device and Internet accessibility legislation moved to the president’s desk after the House passed S-3304 and associated technical changes approved by the Senate last week. The House passed the legislation by voice vote Tuesday night. The bill includes provisions requiring manufacturers to make devices more accessible to the handicapped and mandating closed captioning in Internet video. “Whether it’s a Braille reader or a broadband connection, access to technology is not a political issue -- it’s a participation issue,” said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who authored the original House legislation (HR-3101). “Two decades ago, Americans with disabilities couldn’t get around if buildings weren’t wheelchair accessible; today it’s about being Web accessible.” USTelecom, CTIA, NCTA, CEA and the Telecommunications Industry Association applauded the measure’s passage. The political climate has made it difficult to pass any legislation, but the House and Senate worked hard to reach consensus on the disabilities bill, TIA President Grant Seiffert said in an interview. CEA likes the final bill much better than the original one, said President Gary Shapiro. “Unlike the introduced bill, the final version reflects a more balanced approach to ensuring that Americans with disabilities have access to new and emerging technologies, and that manufacturers have the flexibility to be innovative without being burdened by restrictive, government-mandated design standards.” USTelecom CEO Walter McCormick said the bill provides “a sound legal roadmap for ensuring greater accessibility to cutting-edge communications technologies for people with disabilities.” Andrew Imparato, president of the American Association of People with Disabilities, called the bill “a victory for civil rights in our increasingly digital world."