Ms. Buyer is a regular columnist for the THE BULLETIN of the Bar Association of Erie County and is a contributor to No Jitter. Previously, she has written numerous commentaries on telecommunications law for other legal and telecommunications publications including, among others, The Daily Record, Communications Convergence and Computer Telephony. Her articles cover a broad range of topics highlighting current telecommunications issues including federal and state telecommunications policy, litigation, wireless technologies, spectrum policy, FCC initiatives, and industry consolidation. Martha Buyer has also contributed to the ABA Journal Report.
With spring come new leaves, flowers, and apparently bad guys. On two different listservs of which I’m a member, numerous notes have been racing around about a new and nefarious scam that’s making its way to various end users of telecommunications services.
It is no secret that many people have chosen to completely replace their landlines with wireless devices—and have done so for a number of very good reasons: Not only are wireless devices mobile, but you don’t have to worry about making any changes when you relocate to a new residence. And of course smart phones, in particular, are much more than just telephones: They’re capable of all sorts of sophisticated functions that the wired set at home just can’t perform. Although I have no plans to take similar action, I understand why people make this decision.
Generally speaking, the words “choking,” “throttling” and “squeezing” are not words that are typically associated with Telecommunications. However, one annoyed guy in California took on one of the largest providers and prevailed, in a small, but meaningful way. However, customers have also been put on notice that the day of the unlimited data plan is over, despite the status of an existing agreement for unlimited data.
April 13, 2012 | in Wireless Periodically, I like to mention to those of my friends, clients and anyone else who I bump into, who work behind multi-line telephone systems (main listed number and numerous extensions in varying locations known as MLTS) about emergency information. As is the case with security systems, it is to be hoped that no one will ever need to dial 911 in the event of a medical or other emergency. But the fact remains that such calls DO need to be made, and when they do, time can absolutely be of the essence. A first responder has no more than 4 minutes to get to someone in cardiac or other medical distress. Simply put, that’s not very much time.
April 13, 2012 | in E-911 Recently, I ran into two colleagues, both of whom told me that they always read this space, even though the content sometimes gets a bit overly technical. With an interest in keeping them engaged (and they KNOW who they are, AK and HC), I want to present 3 tantalizing telecom tidbits, none of which is terribly techie, but all of which are interesting, if not totally relevant. They’re about off-shore call centers, and AT&T Mobility’s less than optimal behavior. Let me say up front that AT&T Mobility is hardly alone in its arguably slimy actions—it’s just that, to the best of my knowledge, it’s the only major [wireless] telecommunications provider that’s been caught engaging in these activities. At least this week.