Recent FCC Action on 911 Accuracy

It’s time for the annual assessment of 911 law and policy both in the U.S. and here in Erie County.  You’ve heard of spoiler alerts?  Don’t let this be a snooze alert.  Knowledge about how 911 works could save your life or the life of someone you love.  There have been some significant developments in the past 12 months, mostly related to location identification. While we’re a still a long way from an optimal state, slowly but surely, the laws and rules that govern American wireless carriers and the (mostly) municipally-owned Public Safety Access Points (PSAP) that are the bones of the network infrastructure that ultimately connect the caller to the first responder, are evolving all the time.  Maybe someday, the laws will match the technology. But we’re not there yet. Not anywhere close.

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Cuba Calling? Not So Fast

In late December when President Obama announced that he would seek to “normalize” relations with Cuba, he laid out a plan to begin the thawing of a long-frosty relationship.  While cigar aficionados and others have had stars in their eyes ever since the announcement, the fact remains that one of the areas where Cuba is most deficient is in its communications—both in terms of enterprise communications and the infrastructure necessary to support large and small scale communications. 

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Cramming Makes a Nasty Comeback

Take a look at your phone bill. Every month. Even if you don’t have time to scrutinize every line item, it’s worth a quick review.  We’re all used to escalating bills for utilities (with the exception of gas—at least this year) so bill “creep” isn’t normally cause for alarm. But this year, particularly in the mobile device world, enforcers are coming from all corners to go after the carriers and providers who not only have continued to allow third parties to add piddling little charges without authorization, but who have, in many cases, been sharing the revenue with those third parties.

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Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality has been back in the news over the past few days.  The truth is that not much has changed since we last considered the issue in this space other than a decision from the Federal Communications Commission about whether or not broadband services should be classified as a regulated telecommunications service or a largely unregulated service may happen before year end. Over the summer, the FCC solicited comments from the public on the issue. 

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Employer Reimbursement for Mobile Device Use

Next time you see one of those yellow Schwan’s Home Service yellow frozen food trucks driving around your neighborhood, look at it differently. While I’ve been told that the merchandise inside is tasty when thawed, a recent California decision in a case brought by a Schwan’s employee may have left a sour taste in the mouth of California employers.

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