Voice Link is “innovative” and “efficient” and “effective,” Verizon said of its controversial fixed-wireless technology, in a Monday press release (http://yhoo.it/14sNGe6). The telco has sought and won some limited state approval to end its landline obligations on the western parts of Fire Island, N.Y., after Superstorm Sandy destroyed the copper there last year -- the “decades-old and historically troublesome copper landline network,” as the press release said. Verizon will instead install the cheaper Voice Link. The press release explains the service and includes laudatory statements from Verizon Senior President Tom Maguire as well as one Fire Island resident: “Customers who have used Voice Link have responded positively to the new option. Scott Hirsch, a restaurant owner on Fire Island, just needed to answer calls and to let customers know his establishment was open for business. ‘I'm switching it over to Voice Link,’ said Hirsch of his service, which was previously provided over the copper network.” More than 320 Fire Island residents are already using Voice Link, the telco said. Verizon submitted revised terms of service to the New York Public Service Commission Monday (http://bit.ly/13uF0Bf). The PSC conditionally approved Voice Link use this spring. The terms note that Voice Link may suffer from limitations of power failure and congestion and cannot handle credit card processing, faxing and other DSL-enabled services. The PSC is extending its comment deadline on Voice Link by two weeks, with a new deadline of July 2, it said in a notice Friday (http://bit.ly/15Rdpfw). The PSC docket on Voice Link also includes more than 50 public comments, largely from New Yorkers expressing concern and dissatisfaction about the new service. “There is no doubt that the replacement of permanent land lines with a wireless service will compromise this communication and thus the safety and lives of our residents,” the Fair Harbor Fire Department told the PSC in one such comment posted Monday (http://bit.ly/11RIOKc).

Globalstar and Jarvinian Venture Fund successfully completed initial testing of Globalstar’s proposed terrestrial low-power service. The tests show how quickly and efficiently TLPS “can be deployed to expand the nation’s wireless capacity to address the looming exhaustion of existing Wi-Fi spectrum,” Globalstar said in a news release (http://bit.ly/19YwAqX). All tests were performed over a new 22 MHz channel within the 2.4 GHz band using Ruckus Wireless equipment and existing smartphones “that were enabled to operate over the new channel via a remote firmware upgrade,” it said. Globalstar was granted authorization to test the equipment in the 2.4 GHz band as part of its effort to obtain an FCC rulemaking to use a portion of Big low earth orbit spectrum for terrestrial use (CD April 1 p14).

Harris Corp. requested authority to build and operate a 3.8 meter C-band earth station “to be used in connection with a critical project for the Federal Aviation Administration,” it said in its application to the FCC International Bureau (http://bit.ly/12fT3yb). The earth station will provide air traffic radar services to the FAA, it said. Intelsat requested an extension of an existing special temporary authority for 60 days to drift Intelsat 702 from 47.5 degrees east to 33 degrees east, it said in an application (http://bit.ly/16Xp54U). Intelsat also plans to operate the satellite at that location in inclined orbit in the C and Ku bands, it said.

The FCC Media Bureau sought comment on a study examining the impact of cross-media ownership on minority- and women-owned broadcast stations. The study, by the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council, said cross-ownership has a “negligible” impact on minority and women broadcast ownership (CD May 31 p1). MMTC urged the commission to invite comments on the “extent to which the study may or should be relied on by the commission in the ongoing media ownership and diversity proceedings,” the bureau said in a public notice in dockets 09-182 and 07-294 (http://bit.ly/ZFbk5u). Comments are due July 22, replies Aug. 6, it said.

Comcast will give its Internet customers an additional, separate Wi-Fi signal for guests and other Xfinity customers near the signal, it said in a Monday release (http://bit.ly/13tZIkG). The Wireless Gateway will broadcast both a secure and a free signal that can be shared. Comcast will also provide customers a new option for smart home solutions without the professional security monitoring in the plan it currently offers, it said in a separate release (http://bit.ly/13u0E8S). Xfinity Home Control gives customers real-time text and email alerts when doors and windows open, live streaming video of their home and managed thermostats, it said. The service starts at $9.95 per month. It also announced EcoSaver, a cloud-based product to help customers work to reduce energy use by learning the heating and cooling patterns of a home.

Internet Protocol-enabled services are the foundation of Comcast’s voice networks, even as it is transitioning from legacy systems to new ones, Comcast Division Vice President, Engineering-Product Operations David Kowolenko told the Vermont Public Service Board Friday in prefiled testimony. He answered questions as part of a docket reviewing the regulators’ past decision about their authority over interconnected VoIP and classifying it as a telecom service rather than an information service. The Vermont Supreme Court had remanded earlier this year the board’s past VoIP decision back to the board on the grounds that the federal government has not yet firmly said whether VoIP is an information or telecom service (CD April 2 p14). The board plans to take up the issue again throughout the coming months in docket 7316. Kowolenko described Comcast’s changes since the regulators first examined the issues and “the flexible, advanced nature of Comcast’s IP network and VoIP offerings.” “They are not hemmed in by traditional circuit switched technology, and will only continue to advance in terms of features, offerings and functionality. As the differences between my testimony today and my testimony a few years ago demonstrate, the service offering is constantly evolving because the IP-based nature of the offering allows for tremendous interoperability with advanced functions, as well as nomadic capability.” He specified multiple times that he did not intend to address the legal issues so much as describe Comcast’s network from the engineering perspective. Comcast’s network is IP-based but it can adjust calls to connect with the public switched telephone network, he added.

The House Communications Subcommittee announced witnesses or its hearing to examine the reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn. Scheduled to testify are: Marci Burdick, senior vice president-broadcasting at Schurz Communications; Geoffrey Manne, senior fellow at TechFreedom; Mike Palkovic, executive vice president-services and operations at DirecTV; Ben Pyne, president-global distribution at Disney Media Networks; Hal Singer, managing director for Navigant Economics; and Amy Tykeson, CEO at Bend Broadband. Republicans are seeking to determine whether congressional intervention is required to ensure that viewers have access to the video content they want while “respecting the investments of the programmers that create it,” said a majority memo published Monday. It’s likely that Republicans will also ask witnesses whether new regulations are required to govern new online video business models like that of Aereo, the memo said. The hearing will be the subcommittee’s second this year to discuss the December 2014 expiration of the law.

Internet users show a range of attitudes toward the Internet and its role in their lives, depending on their digital literacy, a study for the U.K. Office of Communications found. Ofcom commissioned the survey to inform its thinking on consumers’ and citizens’ behavior in the context of different aspects of their online experience, the Ipsos MORI report on “being online” said (http://xrl.us/bo8t5t). It divided respondents into the “highly digitally literate,” for whom the Internet had become a main way of engaging with the world; the “medium digitally literate,” for whom the Internet was a key part of their lives and who used it for distinct tasks; and those with “low digital literacy,” who used the Internet for a limited range of activities and tended to find it hard to learn new things. One key finding was that users made tradeoffs between the benefits and drawbacks of online engagement when deciding whether to carry out an activity on the Internet. For example, the report said, when deciding whether to buy something on a website not heard of before, users tended to balance the potential risk against the financial benefit of getting the lowest price. The thought process involved a variety of factors, such as previous experience of performing the activity, friends’ and families’ experiences and peer reviews of products or services. “Confidence in going online was a key factor in whether someone felt able to access the full potential of the web,” the report said. A second finding was a lack of awareness of how to stay safe online and many misconceptions about what “safe” behavior was. The research showed that many participants didn’t understand how safety mechanisms such as the green padlock, verified payment methods and other mechanisms worked, so failed to use them in a consistent way. People relied on their instincts to assess what to trust on the Internet, the report said. Another finding was a lack of understanding about how personal data are stored, used and transferred on the Internet. Many users were happy to allow companies to use their data with their consent, but there were also concerns about the consequences of doing so, the report said. Here, too, there were tradeoffs, as people decided to input personal information or agree to terms and conditions if not doing so would prevent them from getting what they wanted, it said. There was also a broad assumption that online rights and responsibilities should be the same as those offline, the survey found. “Most people were entirely unaware of their online rights,” it said. They believed that individuals have a responsibility to behave in a socially acceptable way online and that websites should monitor and address offensive comments while aiming to preserve free speech, it said. Finally, respondents believed the Internet would become increasingly dominant, a shift not generally perceived as problematic as long as the changes were seen to be beneficial to some. Respondents also predicted more harmony between humans and technology, the report said. While some were saddened by the idea of total access to all information, for free, which everyone would constantly interact with, most were “broadly resigned to this vision of the future,” it said.

The National Space Society began a space solar power international initiative. NSS plans to work with India, Japan and other nations to develop space solar power to potentially meet energy needs and mitigate climate change, it said in a press release (http://bit.ly/164jWEr). The organization will work “to develop an effective mission governance process and hope to evolve ... clear operating procedures regarding decision-making, communications and accountability,” it said. The initiative is aimed at acting as a catalyst “for a livable planet which will promote prosperity and peaceful relations within and between nations,” it said.

Verizon applied for Section 214 authority Friday to discontinue its interstate wireline telecom services in areas of New York and New Jersey where copper facilities were destroyed by Superstorm Sandy (http://bit.ly/19PXOjp). While it’s discontinuing its service over “copper infrastructure that is no longer usable,” Verizon plans to make available its wireless Voice Link service “where the deployment of new wireline facilities is not practical,” it said in the filing. The filing comes a day after Public Knowledge cautioned against “potential confusion” it said could accompany the transition away from the public switched telephone network (CD June 7 p15): After a natural disaster, are TDM service providers required to file a 214(a) application if they plan to discontinue copper landline service? Verizon’s Friday filing “marks the first official act of the much heralded ‘end of the traditional phone network,'” said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. “As the FCC and state regulators consider Verizon’s request to eliminate its copper lines for good, it must carefully consider how to manage this transition,” Feld said. Feld warned that wireless services like Voice Link could face problems like congestion, incompatibility with older telecom equipment, and potential failure if power is lost. “Verizon should not be required to keep an increasingly antiquated copper system alive forever,” he said. “But the transition to the new networks must be done in a way that protects consumers.”