Lumos Networks launched gigabit broadband service for residential and small business customers in Botetourt County, Virginia, the company said in a Friday news release. Lumos is a fiber-based provider of data, voice and IP-based services in the mid-Atlantic region. The launch is the second gigabit broadband service market for Lumos, which expects its entire ILEC fiber-to-the-premise footprint to be gigabit-enabled by the end of 2016.
ECFiber plans to increase speeds, not prices, the company said in a news release Friday. The company's basic plan will increase from 7 to 10 Mbps; its standard plan from 20 to 25 Mbps; the ultra plan will double from 50 to 100 Mbps, and the company's "wicked fast" plan will be boosted from 100 to 500 Mbps. ECFiber’s speeds are symmetrical and have no data caps, the company said. ECFiber is a Communications Union District of 24 towns in East-Central Vermont.
The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs is encouraging parents to file a complaint if their Internet-connected baby monitors were hacked, said a Wednesday DCA news release. Commissioner Julie Menin warned parents to take the necessary steps to ensure their Internet-connected baby monitors aren't vulnerable to privacy or security risks. DCA is issuing subpoenas to several major manufacturers of video monitors that market their devices as secure, it said. DCA is investigating whether the companies have corrected known security vulnerabilities with their devices and whether their security claims violate the city’s consumer protection law, it said. Cybersecurity researchers have said many top-selling Internet-connected baby monitors, which are often marketed as secure, are easily exploited by hackers, DCA said. DCA didn't release the names of companies it subpoenaed.
AT&T and the Louisiana Office of Technology Services are cooperating to modernize communications within the state, the telco said in a news release. The state will use AT&T's switched ethernet to "plan, provision and scale its network usage," it said. The network also supports teleheath, electronic health records, online student testing, e-filing of state forms, video streaming of legislative meetings and electronic licensing, registration and renewals, AT&T said. The service is less susceptible to interruptions caused by events such as hurricanes, it said.
The California Broadband Council is scheduled to meet 8:30 a.m. Thursday in Sacramento in Room 2040 at the Capitol to discuss funding, the digital divide and other issues, the agenda said. The council was established in 2010 to increase broadband deployment and adoption statewide. The agenda topics include a California First Responder Network FirstNet request for proposal, a broadband deployment to public schools update, an e-Rate Consortia and deployment to libraries update, and an update on hearings of the Assembly Select Committee on the Digital Divide in Rural California. There also will be an 80-minute discussion about California's broadband funding.
The Hill Country Telephone Cooperative (HCTC) will implement the COPsync911 threat-alert system at seven of its locations in Texas, COPsync said in a news release Wednesday. COPsync operates a law enforcement real-time, in-car information sharing, communication and data interoperability network. The HCTC is a member-owned telecom cooperative based in the Texas Hill Country.
All low-income households should be involved in any broadband Lifeline program, especially seniors, people with disabilities and veterans, said an ex parte filing by the California Emerging Technology Fund posted Wednesday in FCC docket 10-90. CETF and representatives from EveryoneOn, the Chicana/Latina Foundation, the Los Angeles Unified School District and the County of Los Angeles met with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn Jan. 21 about Lifeline modernization. CETF also proposed a wireless router be included in any modem provided as part of the program, for school-issued electronic devices to be compatible with the broadband service being provided. The Chicana/Latina Foundation emphasized the importance of in-language, in-culture outreach for broadband adoption efforts, citing its experience working with CETF on successful California broadband adoption programs, the filing said. EveryoneOn encouraged the commission to set performance goals to reach the national broadband plan goal of 90 percent by 2020, with disadvantaged populations no less than 80 percent, it said. The school district emphasized the importance of affordable home Internet connectivity for its students.
FirstLight Fiber extended its network by adding 36,000 fiber miles in New York's Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties, the company said in a news release. The company constructed the addition in response to market and customer demand to expand its offerings closer to New York City, the release said. The network is designed to be in close proximity to more than 4,000 cell tower and enterprise locations in order to serve businesses along the fiber route, it said. FirstLight Fiber is a facilities-based provider operating in New York and northern New England. The newly constructed network can support dark fiber, ethernet and wavelength services from 10 Mbps to 100 Gbps as well as Internet access, the release said. With this expansion, FirstLight’s fiber network now spans 260,000 fiber miles in New York, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts, it said.
Albany, New York, signed an agreement with Millennium Strategies to complete a study of the broadband needs of city residents and businesses, a news release from the city said. The study is being financed by $20,000 in community development funds from the Albany Community Development Agency and additional funding that's being pursued elsewhere, the release said. The review comes out of the work of the Broadband Initiative Working Group, which includes representatives from the Albany Public Library, the Downtown and Central Avenue business improvement districts, the City School District of Albany, Green Tech Charter School, the Albany Housing Authority, the Albany Promise, the Center for Technology in Government at the State University of New York at Albany, and business leaders, the release said. The study is expected to be completed before the summer.
Charter Communications accepted New York Public Service Commission proposed conditions for the company's buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, a Charter spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday to us in an email. Accepting the conditions (see 1601080048) puts Charter one step closer to closing the deals to acquire BHN and TWC to create New Charter. Charter still awaits approval from California, Hawaii and New Jersey in addition to the FCC and Department of Justice (see 1601040061). As a part of the New York-imposed conditions, Charter must upgrade its broadband system to deliver at least 100 Mbps statewide by the end of 2018, and 300 Mbps by the end of 2019, a PSC order said. The conditions also specify that the company will be required to create a new low-income broadband program with minimum speeds of 30 Mbps at $14.99 available for 700,000 low-income households, it said. Charter will also have to invest $50 million to improve customer service and achieve a 35 percent reduction in the rate of cable customer complaints in five years, the order said. If the company fails to meet that condition, it will trigger up to $5 million in additional investment.