http://nationaljournal.com/tech/kohl-seeks-to-block-at-t-merger-20110720
Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., who chairs the Senate's Antitrust Subcommitteee, is calling for regulators to block the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, saying on Wednesday that it would be "highly dangerous to competition and consumers."
Kohl wrote to the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission to argue that the merger would concentrate the market too much.
"I have concluded that this acquisition, if permitted to proceed, would likely cause substantial harm to competition and consumers, would be contrary to antitrust law and not in the public interest, and therefore should be blocked by your agencies," he wrote.
The senator's letter provides political cover to the FCC and Justice if they want to either block the proposed $39 billion merger outright or impose stringent conditions. The approval process is expected to last until at least the end of the year.
Kohl noted that cell phones are a daily necessity. “Therefore, in this industry, perhaps more than any other, full and vibrant competition is essential so that all consumers realize the benefits of this technology at the best prices and with the most choices.”
An AT&T spokesman disputed Kohl's assessment.
“We ... feel his view is inconsistent with antitrust law, is shared by few others, and ignores the many positive benefits and numerous supporters of the transaction," the spokesman said.
"This is a decision that will be made by the Department of Justice and the FCC under applicable law and after a full and fair examination of the facts. We continue to believe those reviews will result in approval of this transaction."
AT&T contends that competition will remain vigorous in the wireless industry even after the transaction.
It says that the merger will allow the companies to offer advanced wireless services to almost all Americans. That pledge has helped AT&T make inroads with lawmakers in both parties as it seeks approval of the deal. A group of 76 Democrats wrote to regulators in June saying that the merger may be beneficial to the spread of broadband access.
The letter from Kohl has been anticipated for weeks and helps set the tone for how Democrats in Congress will view the deal.
Earlier Wednesday, top Democrats in the House also expressed caution about the deal, saying that it could discourage investment and restrict innovation.
"We believe that AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile would be a troubling backward step in federal public policy--a retrenchment from nearly two decades of promoting competition and open markets to acceptance of a duopoly in the wireless marketplace," House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairwoman Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and House Judiciary ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., wrote in their letter to FCC and the Justice Department.
"Such industry consolidation could reduce competition and increase consumer costs at a time our country can least afford it."
AMEN! ten chars
788346: SprintFreeMsg: Public hearings on proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger July 21, 25, 27 in Culver City, San Diego, Fresno. More info at www.cpuc.ca.gov/merger
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Cool now I may get back on Tmo when I move to Georgia next year when my sprint contract is up.
"We believe that AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile would be a troubling backward step in federal public policy--a retrenchment from nearly two decades of promoting competition and open markets to acceptance of a duopoly in the wireless marketplace," House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairwoman Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and House Judiciary ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., wrote in their letter to FCC and the Justice Department.
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Yeah, that's 'cuz 30 years ago a certain little company known as AT&T was broken up into the "baby bells" (Of which Verizon, aka Bell Atlantic was one) because they were found guilty of leveraging their monopoly status unfairly and in harm to the consumer and the market and ultimately innovation.
...to be fair they only stifled innovation in 'the market' so far as the market itself is concerned. There was no market, they owned the whole game. They were actually a very technologically innovative company...though I'm sure Bell Labs was a pretty distant branch from the root of all that evil.
So, we are really to believe that a convicted abusive monopolist that has reformed and is bigger than even before is to be trusted? The company by the same name that at one time wouldn't allow you to plug in a phone from anyone but them? That wouldn't let you own your own phone? That would hard-wire a phone and charge you monthly for each extension in the house? Pffffffft.
daneurysm said:
So, we are really to believe that a convicted abusive monopolist that has reformed and is bigger than even before is to be trusted? The company by the same name that at one time wouldn't allow you to plug in a phone from anyone but them? That wouldn't let you own your own phone? That would hard-wire a phone and charge you monthly for each extension in the house? Pffffffft.
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Great stuff, dude! If you were running for office, you'd have my vote!
Best news I heard all day... That and it gives me a chuckle to think of ATT still being forced to pay deutsche telekom billions even if the merger falls through
I'm still weary of it. There was an article out the other day talking about lobbyists working as staffers for politicians and guess who had the most of them, AT&T. and they all seemed to work for just the right people.
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http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/14/lightsquareds-lte-hopes-dashed-by-federal-agency-report/ well aint that a bummer. what does this mean to sprint? will lte be delayed now or will the consumer end be unchanged?
Saw this coming months ago...
who needs GPS anyway.. grab a map.. LOL!
hmm
well i guess i wont be getting one of those fancy quad core lte phones. i also wonder what is going to happen to verizons network since they don't have wimax at all. At least we have something for the time being even if its not all over the place yet. all in all i think this is funny
GPS was first, and was originally for military use. Lightsquared never stood a chance for multiple reasons.
sprkat85 said:
well i guess i wont be getting one of those fancy quad core lte phones. i also wonder what is going to happen to verizons network since they don't have wimax at all. At least we have something for the time being even if its not all over the place yet. all in all i think this is funny
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It's not going to have an effect on Verizon since they were smart enough to build their own LTE network from the start.
brownhornet said:
It's not going to have an effect on Verizon since they were smart enough to build their own LTE network from the start.
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Lol ya Verizon has 4g everywhere tho there data cap and plans and phone prices are insane.
My bad this didn't come up when I made my thread. Below is my post on it BTW.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/14/lightsquareds-lte-hopes-dashed-by-federal-agency-report/
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9223412/LightSquared_seeks_probe_of_GPS_advisory_board_member
Well now the looks for sprint to have an LTE partner other than itself and Clear are looking dim according to this story. Lightsquared was going to be a big help to Sprints LTE efforts and give them more spectrum to work with and enable users to connect to.
The issue has always been GPS interference with Lightsquared's LTE implementation. What MANY people FAIL to realize its NOT Lightsquared's fault for the interference. The GPS handsets/systems are encroaching on Lightsquared's Spectrum/frequency and that is whats causing the interference. The FCC even made notice to give manufacturers many many years heads up notice that Lightsquared was coming and using Freq X but the manufacturers did squat and so in turn they still encroach on the signal causing issues to themselves. Now b/c they have been there for so long everyone looks at it as if Lightsquared is causing the problem but its actually the other way around.
Whats sad is even though lightsquared made deals with other companies to implement fixes on these GPS handsets for FREE, it still didn't fly with ppl.
"...Trimble sells products and services for precision GPS and has been one of the most prominent opponents of LightSquared's network plan. LightSquared said deployment of its network could force Trimble to adapt its equipment to stop using frequencies licensed to LightSquared, a concern that LightSquared said Trimble has acknowledged. Parkinson sits on the board of Trimble, so he should have recused himself from the government's decision-making process on the LTE proposal, LightSquared said...."
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It's truly a shame the GPS manufacturers are so set in there way and control so much of the FCC, as in they have much much more $$ to toss around capitol hill and get things their way.
Now we will be the ones hurt in the end by this more than anyone else.
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---------- Post added at 07:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:49 PM ----------
brownhornet said:
It's not going to have an effect on Verizon since they were smart enough to build their own LTE network from the start.
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has nothing do do with verizons lte network nor the fact that they built their own form the start. Sprint is building their own too, they were just going to use Lightsquared's in conjunction along with Clears like they do Clears for WiMax now. Cept Lightsquard's was on a much better Freq than Clears was for easy coverage.
sgt. slaughter said:
My bad this didn't come up when I made my thread. Below is my post on it BTW.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/14/lightsquareds-lte-hopes-dashed-by-federal-agency-report/
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9223412/LightSquared_seeks_probe_of_GPS_advisory_board_member
Well now the looks for sprint to have an LTE partner other than itself and Clear are looking dim according to this story. Lightsquared was going to be a big help to Sprints LTE efforts and give them more spectrum to work with and enable users to connect to.
The issue has always been GPS interference with Lightsquared's LTE implementation. What MANY people FAIL to realize its NOT Lightsquared's fault for the interference. The GPS handsets/systems are encroaching on Lightsquared's Spectrum/frequency and that is whats causing the interference. The FCC even made notice to give manufacturers many many years heads up notice that Lightsquared was coming and using Freq X but the manufacturers did squat and so in turn they still encroach on the signal causing issues to themselves. Now b/c they have been there for so long everyone looks at it as if Lightsquared is causing the problem but its actually the other way around.
Whats sad is even though lightsquared made deals with other companies to implement fixes on these GPS handsets for FREE, it still didn't fly with ppl.
It's truly a shame the GPS manufacturers are so set in there way and control so much of the FCC, as in they have much much more $$ to toss around capitol hill and get things their way.
Now we will be the ones hurt in the end by this more than anyone else.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
---------- Post added at 07:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:49 PM ----------
has nothing do do with verizons lte network nor the fact that they built their own form the start. Sprint is building their own too, they were just going to use Lightsquared's in conjunction along with Clears like they do Clears for WiMax now. Cept Lightsquard's was on a much better Freq than Clears was for easy coverage.
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Yea... but with Sprint's being on the 1900mhz frequency it sounds like wimax penetration fail part 2.
It will be the same as the current 3g sig.. but better after the network vision upgrades. 1.9ghz for Sprint will get better as they are going to mount the radios at the antenna instead of at the base of the tower.
That will get rid of signal loss from the hardline.. which is pretty high at that frequency. Once Nextel is phased out Sprint will start using its 800mhz freqs for coverage as well.
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Means I'm switching to a different carrier before my contract is up. If I were to guess, Sprints network will remain stagnant, in its current, horrible state.
Friend was driving the other night and asked me to get info about hours of a store...slow, slow data means I didn't get the information, got pissed("why do I pay them?! it doesnt work! Im switching to verizon, at least their 3g speeds are consistently around 800kbps."), gave up and we just went.
They were open.
sgt. slaughter said:
My bad this didn't come up when I made my thread. Below is my post on it BTW.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/14/lightsquareds-lte-hopes-dashed-by-federal-agency-report/
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9223412/LightSquared_seeks_probe_of_GPS_advisory_board_member
Well now the looks for sprint to have an LTE partner other than itself and Clear are looking dim according to this story. Lightsquared was going to be a big help to Sprints LTE efforts and give them more spectrum to work with and enable users to connect to.
The issue has always been GPS interference with Lightsquared's LTE implementation. What MANY people FAIL to realize its NOT Lightsquared's fault for the interference. The GPS handsets/systems are encroaching on Lightsquared's Spectrum/frequency and that is whats causing the interference. The FCC even made notice to give manufacturers many many years heads up notice that Lightsquared was coming and using Freq X but the manufacturers did squat and so in turn they still encroach on the signal causing issues to themselves. Now b/c they have been there for so long everyone looks at it as if Lightsquared is causing the problem but its actually the other way around.
Whats sad is even though lightsquared made deals with other companies to implement fixes on these GPS handsets for FREE, it still didn't fly with ppl.
It's truly a shame the GPS manufacturers are so set in there way and control so much of the FCC, as in they have much much more $$ to toss around capitol hill and get things their way.
Now we will be the ones hurt in the end by this more than anyone else.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
---------- Post added at 07:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:49 PM ----------
has nothing do do with verizons lte network nor the fact that they built their own form the start. Sprint is building their own too, they were just going to use Lightsquared's in conjunction along with Clears like they do Clears for WiMax now. Cept Lightsquard's was on a much better Freq than Clears was for easy coverage.
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You don't really know **** about this do you. Lightsquared is using it's frequency band illegally and thought a few bribes to the FCC and some congressmen would get it done but they got caught when they messed with GPS. As a commercial pilot I know the importance of GPS and broadband the wrong way is not the solution. Lightsquared gambled that they could sneak this through without anyone noticing but got caught when the screwed with the DOT, farmers, aviation, and the general public. Here are some excerpts from some aviation publications:
After LightSquared made statements that it has a “legal right” to build a network of terrestrial 4G broadband transmitters in the U.S., the Coalition to Save Our GPS last Thursday stepped up its attack of the company’s plans. Tests of LightSquared’s transmitters earlier this year showed that they interfere with GPS signals. According to the coalition, “LightSquared did not pay for and does not have a ‘legal right’ to build a nationwide terrestrial network in the MSS band.” MSS stands for mobile satellite spectrum, a quiet corner of the radio band reserved for very low power satellite-to-earth signals, such as GPS. Spectrum is in high demand, and commercial broadcast frequencies accordingly sell for tens of billions of dollars. But because of their restrictions, MSS frequencies are much cheaper. In fact, LightSquared bought a complete satellite system and two MSS frequencies for $2 billion. However, the GPS coalition said LightSquared is trying to circumvent FCC restrictions to convert these frequencies into a terrestrial spectrum that, according to a report published by LightSquared-hired consultants, would be worth $12 billion. LightSquared “is using legal double speakto hide a $10 billion spectrum windfall–money that should be going to U.S. taxpayers,” the coalition charged.
Congressional opponents of LightSquared’s 4G broadband plan allege that “short circuiting” procedures are involved at the FCC, the White House and the company’s owner to expedite LightSquared’s submissions. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House armed services subcommittee on strategic forces, and five other subcommittee members asked the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (OGR) late last week to conduct an investigation into the roles of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the White House and the Harbinger Capital Partners hedge fund over the matter. In a separate letter sent to Genachowski on Friday, Tom Petri (R-Wis.), chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, expressed similar concerns. “We have never seen the entire federal government and so many private companies directed to expend such considerable financial resources and man hours to accommodate a single company’s desires,” they wrote. “Never have we seen a company’s business model threaten critical transportation safety infrastructure and yet be assisted by its federal regulator. It is odd that the FCC has pegged the hopes of expanding broadband access on such a controversial proposal by a single applicant.”
“The effects of LightSquared deployment would be far-reaching and potentially devastating to aviation,” the FAA wrote to the President’s Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) group in a report that was recently leaked to the media. In that document, the FAA estimated that the resulting interference to GPS from LightSquared’s proposed 4G broadband transmitters would lead to 794 deaths, a $70 billion loss in aviation capabilities and the addition of 30 million tons of CO2 emissions in the 10 years following LightSquared’s startup. These effects would stem from delays in NextGen development and implementation, reversion to ground-based navigation aids, the loss of GPS efficiency and safety benefits and the cost of acquiring and retrofitting modified GPS equipment across the entire aviation fleet. The FAA estimated that the total avionics and related modifications and retrofit programs would take 10 to 15 years to complete, although LightSquared experts claimed earlier that it could be accomplished in only three years. The FCC is expected to announce in mid-September whether or not LightSquared will be allowed to proceed with its plan.
The current GPS/LightSquared frequency battle could be described as Washington’s most recent electro-political struggle.
At least two years before President Obama’s January State of the Union announcement of the National Broadband Plan, entrepreneurs and investors were already dissecting its several FCC drafts, looking for business opportunities. One of these investors was billionaire subprime mortgage speculator Philip Falcone, who saw real promise in its market potential. In 2009, Falcone’s company, Harbinger Partners, began the acquisition of ailing broadband satellite operator Sky Terra, which already held an FCC license to provide nationwide Internet service via a large satellite that it had ordered from Boeing.
But for Falcone, Sky Terra, to be renamed LightSquared, also had two aces in the hole. First was its possession of radio spectrum in excess of its needs and, second, it held an FCC dispensation to operate a number of terrestrial Internet re-transmitters in areas of poor satellite reception, and both came with the acquisition. Unused radio spectrum is a rare commodity today, commanding prices in the hundreds of millions from broadcasters. (Occasionally, the FCC holds public spectrum auctions, but future auctions will be conducted more carefully. Last year the FCC accidentally sold the total block of frequencies reserved for the USAF’s B-2 Stealth bomber.)
Yet the Sky Terra acquisition still needed to be finalized before submission for FCC approval, and political connections had to be cemented. The National Legal and Policy Center reports that on Sept. 22, 2009, Falcone and LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja visited the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House. On the following day, Harbinger and Sky Terra signed the merger agreement. One week later, Falcone, previously a very modest Republican supporter, and his wife, Lisa, each made the maximum personal contribution of $30,400 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In September 2010, Republican supporter Sanjiv Ahuja contributed $30,400 to the same committee.
It was also necessary to maintain continuous contact with the FCC, so Falcone arranged for lobbyist Steve Glaze to perform that task. Coincidentally, Glaze is married to Terri Glaze, the FCC’s director of legislative affairs. However, Falcone and LightSquared were already well connected with the agency. Falcone himself was a Harvard classmate of Barack Obama, and is clearly a strong supporter of the President’s broadband plan, as is Obama appointee Julius Genachowski, the FCC chairman, who oversaw its development.
I'm sorry I don't trust the faa they are the biggest group of liars o don't have cells or WiFi on n now planes have WiFi for internet. Makes ZERO sense to me what they decided to magically figure a way so it doesn't "mess" with their stuff and the report on fuel and deaths is total made up numbers and bull****. People got around forever without gps and still could reason faa doesn't support this the airlines are greedy sobs and none of the airlines can manage their money that's why they always are raising prices and needing help.
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cruise350 said:
You don't really know **** about this do you. Lightsquared is using it's frequency band illegally and thought a few bribes to the FCC and some congressmen would get it done but they got caught when they messed with GPS. As a commercial pilot I know the importance of GPS and broadband the wrong way is not the solution. Lightsquared gambled that they could sneak this through without anyone noticing but got caught when the screwed with the DOT, farmers, aviation, and the general public. Here are some excerpts from some aviation publications:
After LightSquared made statements that it has a “legal right” to build a network of terrestrial 4G broadband transmitters in the U.S., the Coalition to Save Our GPS last Thursday stepped up its attack of the company’s plans. Tests of LightSquared’s transmitters earlier this year showed that they interfere with GPS signals. According to the coalition, “LightSquared did not pay for and does not have a ‘legal right’ to build a nationwide terrestrial network in the MSS band.” MSS stands for mobile satellite spectrum, a quiet corner of the radio band reserved for very low power satellite-to-earth signals, such as GPS. Spectrum is in high demand, and commercial broadcast frequencies accordingly sell for tens of billions of dollars. But because of their restrictions, MSS frequencies are much cheaper. In fact, LightSquared bought a complete satellite system and two MSS frequencies for $2 billion. However, the GPS coalition said LightSquared is trying to circumvent FCC restrictions to convert these frequencies into a terrestrial spectrum that, according to a report published by LightSquared-hired consultants, would be worth $12 billion. LightSquared “is using legal double speakto hide a $10 billion spectrum windfall–money that should be going to U.S. taxpayers,” the coalition charged.
Congressional opponents of LightSquared’s 4G broadband plan allege that “short circuiting” procedures are involved at the FCC, the White House and the company’s owner to expedite LightSquared’s submissions. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House armed services subcommittee on strategic forces, and five other subcommittee members asked the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (OGR) late last week to conduct an investigation into the roles of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the White House and the Harbinger Capital Partners hedge fund over the matter. In a separate letter sent to Genachowski on Friday, Tom Petri (R-Wis.), chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, expressed similar concerns. “We have never seen the entire federal government and so many private companies directed to expend such considerable financial resources and man hours to accommodate a single company’s desires,” they wrote. “Never have we seen a company’s business model threaten critical transportation safety infrastructure and yet be assisted by its federal regulator. It is odd that the FCC has pegged the hopes of expanding broadband access on such a controversial proposal by a single applicant.”
“The effects of LightSquared deployment would be far-reaching and potentially devastating to aviation,” the FAA wrote to the President’s Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) group in a report that was recently leaked to the media. In that document, the FAA estimated that the resulting interference to GPS from LightSquared’s proposed 4G broadband transmitters would lead to 794 deaths, a $70 billion loss in aviation capabilities and the addition of 30 million tons of CO2 emissions in the 10 years following LightSquared’s startup. These effects would stem from delays in NextGen development and implementation, reversion to ground-based navigation aids, the loss of GPS efficiency and safety benefits and the cost of acquiring and retrofitting modified GPS equipment across the entire aviation fleet. The FAA estimated that the total avionics and related modifications and retrofit programs would take 10 to 15 years to complete, although LightSquared experts claimed earlier that it could be accomplished in only three years. The FCC is expected to announce in mid-September whether or not LightSquared will be allowed to proceed with its plan.
The current GPS/LightSquared frequency battle could be described as Washington’s most recent electro-political struggle.
At least two years before President Obama’s January State of the Union announcement of the National Broadband Plan, entrepreneurs and investors were already dissecting its several FCC drafts, looking for business opportunities. One of these investors was billionaire subprime mortgage speculator Philip Falcone, who saw real promise in its market potential. In 2009, Falcone’s company, Harbinger Partners, began the acquisition of ailing broadband satellite operator Sky Terra, which already held an FCC license to provide nationwide Internet service via a large satellite that it had ordered from Boeing.
But for Falcone, Sky Terra, to be renamed LightSquared, also had two aces in the hole. First was its possession of radio spectrum in excess of its needs and, second, it held an FCC dispensation to operate a number of terrestrial Internet re-transmitters in areas of poor satellite reception, and both came with the acquisition. Unused radio spectrum is a rare commodity today, commanding prices in the hundreds of millions from broadcasters. (Occasionally, the FCC holds public spectrum auctions, but future auctions will be conducted more carefully. Last year the FCC accidentally sold the total block of frequencies reserved for the USAF’s B-2 Stealth bomber.)
Yet the Sky Terra acquisition still needed to be finalized before submission for FCC approval, and political connections had to be cemented. The National Legal and Policy Center reports that on Sept. 22, 2009, Falcone and LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja visited the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House. On the following day, Harbinger and Sky Terra signed the merger agreement. One week later, Falcone, previously a very modest Republican supporter, and his wife, Lisa, each made the maximum personal contribution of $30,400 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In September 2010, Republican supporter Sanjiv Ahuja contributed $30,400 to the same committee.
It was also necessary to maintain continuous contact with the FCC, so Falcone arranged for lobbyist Steve Glaze to perform that task. Coincidentally, Glaze is married to Terri Glaze, the FCC’s director of legislative affairs. However, Falcone and LightSquared were already well connected with the agency. Falcone himself was a Harvard classmate of Barack Obama, and is clearly a strong supporter of the President’s broadband plan, as is Obama appointee Julius Genachowski, the FCC chairman, who oversaw its development.
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Sorry bud I'm not reading your bs there when you say I don't know **** when i likely know more than u do on it. FACT lightsquared was given their spectrum and the current GPS devices signals spread onto THEIR spectrum which causes the interference.
Lightsquared was provisioned to use X spctrum which GPS currently spreads into and GPS ppl.didn't fix their shot in time
Read up on this please.
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FACT LightSquared was granted a waiver to use their low-power SATELLITE frequency for a terrestrial mobile network buildout IF they could do it without interfering with GPS.
This goes very deep, and in the end it comes down to some guys at the FCC who told LightSquared they could do it, and are now playing cya when GPS became an issue.
Are GPS receivers "listening" outside the normal gps band? Yes. Are they allowed to do this? Technically yes, because they're just listening. Is it a good idea for them to do this? Technologically, yes because of red/blue shift it increases accuracy of gps location.
GPS isn't doing anything wrong, and LightSquared isn't really doing anything wrong either, but they were granted a provisional waiver, and could not satisfy those provisions.
End of story.
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sgt. slaughter said:
The issue has always been GPS interference with Lightsquared's LTE implementation. What MANY people FAIL to realize its NOT Lightsquared's fault for the interference. The GPS handsets/systems are encroaching on Lightsquared's Spectrum/frequency and that is whats causing the interference. The FCC even made notice to give manufacturers many many years heads up notice that Lightsquared was coming and using Freq X but the manufacturers did squat and so in turn they still encroach on the signal causing issues to themselves. Now b/c they have been there for so long everyone looks at it as if Lightsquared is causing the problem but its actually the other way around
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That doesnt make much sense to me. There are some open frequencies to use for private stuff and below a certain power amount, and there are blocks of frequencies sold by the FCC to a company. How does GPS stuff use one frequency for a LONG time and then suddenly Lightsquared owns it now and other people are encroaching? GPS was around long before this new company and is used for far more important things than 4G data. So Lightsquared has no right to interfere with GPS and should have used a differency frequency band
Lightsquared has no defense here, the bought a spectrum that is designated for a different purpose then what they intended to use it for and got caught when they bribed Obama and his cronies at the FCC. It's that simple, they had no right to build a terrestrial network based on that spectrum and now they are done.
“LightSquared did not pay for and does not have a ‘legal right’ to build a nationwide terrestrial network in the MSS band.” MSS stands for mobile satellite spectrum, a quiet corner of the radio band reserved for very low power satellite-to-earth signals, such as GPS.
---------- Post added at 11:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:21 AM ----------
sgt. slaughter said:
Sorry bud I'm not reading your bs there when you say I don't know **** when i likely know more than u do on it. FACT lightsquared was given their spectrum and the current GPS devices signals spread onto THEIR spectrum which causes the interference.
Lightsquared was provisioned to use X spctrum which GPS currently spreads into and GPS ppl.didn't fix their shot in time
Read up on this please.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
I think you need to read, the MSS spectrum they bought is for satellite to earth communication not a terrestrial network. If they used the spectrum as it was intended they would not be interfering with gps. They thought they could do an end around on all the other network providers by buying up a cheap defunct satellite communications company than bribe the fcc and Obama's campaign war chest and people would look the other way while they built a terrestrial network on the MSS band. They probably would have got away with it if it didn't interfere with gps. If lightsquared had played fair, and bought the proper spectrum for its purpose there wouldn't be a problem. They gambled and lost.
---------- Post added at 11:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:27 AM ----------
ckoadiyn said:
I'm sorry I don't trust the faa they are the biggest group of liars o don't have cells or WiFi on n now planes have WiFi for internet. Makes ZERO sense to me what they decided to magically figure a way so it doesn't "mess" with their stuff and the report on fuel and deaths is total made up numbers and bull****. People got around forever without gps and still could reason faa doesn't support this the airlines are greedy sobs and none of the airlines can manage their money that's why they always are raising prices and needing help.
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Click to collapse
Well, first off it is the FCC that prevents usage of cell phones on airplanes. As far as the other electronic devices, I agree that most of them don't interfere with functions on the airplane. but some due, how many of you have had a gsm phone and gotten close to a speaker and heard the interference it produces. Blackberry's throw all kinds of electronic noise off of them. One of our helicopters would get a fire warning light after take off everytime they flew this one client. After some investigation, Turned out he was leaving his Blackberry on in his case and the fire sensor circuitry was right under his bag when he turned off his blackberry the fire warning light went out. I'm not saying they all do this, but beneath the floor of an airplane is where all the wiring is. You can't say for sure that one of your electrical devices won't cause a problem. Takeoff and landing is where 90% of all crashed occur so wouldn't it make sense to limit the risk of interference at that time.
On another note, our company has just received approval to use Ipads in the cockpit to replace all our paper charts. But, before we can use them each Ipad must be sent out and tested for EMI and Pressurization failures. We've sent in over 200 Ipads to be tested so far and 2 of them came back with unacceptable EMI emissions so just because one is good doesn't mean they all are good.
Just so u know LightSquared controls 59 MHz of the United States spectrum (1525-1559 MHz) and received FCC authorization in 2004 to use this L-Band spectrum to build its nationwide 4G-LTE wireless broadband network integrated with satellite coverage.
It wasn't under Obama they got approved it was that crooked sob bush
Edit: also from what I read their sats spectrum was a agreement with inmarsat which is already for data/phone service with the military so I'm still not seeing the problem.
Ps thanks for some of the info about fcc n interference.
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Also if I may add inmarsat sucks after being a it for 4 yrs in the military on a destroyer it was the worst connection and our slowest out of all of them. Part of the connection issues was due to piss poor engineering of the ship but yeah just wanted to throw that out their.
Ps it was slower then dialup for the internet
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its ****ing amazing watching all of this unfold...
the power of corporations and the confidence of the people that run them is ridiculous....
how can a company like light squared have the ****ing guts to even think about pushing over such an important and well established essential system like gps?!!
i find it utterly appalling that such an idea even got this far...
SUWON, South Korea (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co plans to sell a variation of its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone that will transmit data at nearly twice the normal speed, the head of its mobile business said on Monday.
J.K. Shin, also co-chief executive of the world's biggest technology firm by revenue, said the phone would be sold in South Korea as early as this month.
Samsung was in talks with several overseas carriers to take the phone, Shin told Reuters in an interview at Samsung's headquarters in Suwon, just south of Seoul. He declined to name the carriers.
"We'll be the first with the commercial launch of the advanced 4G version of the smartphone," Shin said.
The new S4 will use LTE-Advanced 4G technology, an upgrade from conventional 4G called LTE, or long term evolution. LTE-Advanced offers data transmission at up to twice the normal 4G speed. The phones will be powered by Qualcomm chips.
A movie download that takes 3 minutes with conventional 4G would take slightly more than 1 minute, Samsung said.
Samsung's shares have lost almost $20 billion since June 7 after analysts cut forecasts for Galaxy S4 sales by as much as 30 percent on industry data that showed the high-end smartphone market was getting saturated.
The same problem is hitting sales of the iPhone 5, made by Samsung rival Apple Inc.
Samsung's market capitalization is still a hefty $195 billion. Its shares closed down 0.2 percent on Monday.
Shin showed little concern about sales prospects for the S4, which hit stores in late April. The mobile devices division is the company's biggest profit generator.
"S4 sales remain strong. It's selling far stronger than the (Galaxy) S III ... and the new LTE-Advanced (4G) phone will be another addition to our high-end segment offerings that ensure healthy profit margins," Shin said.
Shin declined to provide forecasts for S4 sales. He said the new S4 would be slightly more expensive than the current one.
The South Korean firm hopes the addition of hardware offerings such as faster data transmission, along with its widely anticipated move to introduce models with unbreakable or flexible displays, will help it protect margin growth.
"As operators seek to provide more data-centric mobile services, I think this will become mainstream 4G technology globally in the coming years," Shin said.
Shin also said sales of Samsung's tablet products in the U.S. market jumped 3.3 times since it installed brand shops within Best Buy's stores in April, and is now considering expanding the format in Latin America and Britain. Samsung declined to name potential retailers.
EYES ON NETWORK BUSINESS
Having conquered the smartphone market that Apple virtually created with the iconic iPhone in 2007, Samsung is seeking to do the same in the network business with the booming 4G mobile equipment market, challenging bigger rivals such as Ericsson, China's Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks.
Many countries need to upgrade mobile base stations to handle not just 3G but also 4G, or build them from scratch to support 4G connections.
Shin said the network gear market was one of Samsung's fastest growing businesses, mainly thanks to 4G equipment sales which had been rising more than 30 percent a year since 2010.
The new phone would help this part of Samsung's business, he said.
"Such technology leadership will set the pace for the competition and help us become a major player in the network gear market," Shin said.
Samsung has won some 4G network deals from all major South Korean carriers, U.S. Sprint Nextel Corp and Japan's KDDI Corp and Hutchison Whampoa's British unit, but it needs to crack China to close the gap with traditional vendors in the overall gear equipment market.
Shin said there had not been much progress in Samsung's push to penetrate China's 4G equipment market yet, but it was increasing investment in the country.
China's three mobile operators - China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom - plan to spend a combined 345 billion yuan ($56.3 billion) this year on network upgrades. That includes investment in 4G, which multiplies mobile broadband speeds by up to five times for users of iPhone and Galaxy phones compared with 3G.
Many analysts believe Huawei and ZTE Corp - already big suppliers of China Mobile since only 10-15 percent of 3G network contracts went to foreign vendors - will be winners, leaving others to fight for smaller bits of the pie.
Samsung hopes to show Chinese clients that 4G networks with new technology can be built faster and with lower operating costs.
Not to hate, but standard 4G still isn't completely commonplace yet.
Not sure if i should go after this or the note.
Good god there is going to be 30 different versions of the S4 before too long....
S4 rugged
S4 developer
S4 google
S4 lte advanced
S4 sugar daddy edition
S4 game of thrones edition
S4 pokemon edition
...
But no 32gb Verizon edition
Reneg4d3 said:
Good god there is going to be 30 different versions of the S4 before too long....
S4 rugged
S4 developer
S4 google
S4 lte advanced
S4 sugar daddy edition
S4 game of thrones edition
S4 pokemon edition
...
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Click to collapse
The GOT edition might be cool- if a 32GB version for Verizon
Samsung is being savvy with the S4 "LTE Advanced" edition, since that is an understatement in name. The Snap 800 is the newer fabrication process that runs cooler for cpu, gpu and the data radios. The Snap dual and 600 are the same fabrication and basic design family. The Snap 800 is the start of their new family. Seems deceiving calling it what they are. The Snap 600 to 800 is a bigger overall hardware jump than the Snap dual to the 600.
Perhaps S4 Big Kahuna, or S4 Mega are better and more relative names.
chamberc said:
But no 32gb Verizon edition
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Click to collapse
Because that would conflict with Verizon backup assistance and their expensive cloud
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Lol these posts are getting old...there is always going to be something better a few months after you buy a phone...
CC268 said:
Lol these posts are getting old...there is always going to be something better a few months after you buy a phone...
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I must agree..I say it is an intentional ploy to get more of our money.
Yea if they actually do come out with another they are trying to get more of our money and its just outrageous that they would purposely do such a thing.