Verizon, BellSouth ISPs Ripping Off Their Subscribers With Bogus Extra Fees

FROM: Verizon, BellSouth replace USF fees with new ones
ArsTechnica, 8/23/2006 11:43:29 AM, by Anders Bylund

"As DSL lines became exempt from the Universal Service Fund (USF) charge last week, Baby Bells Verizon and BellSouth are replacing the fee with other ones of almost the same amount. Both companies claim to have their reasons, while consumer groups are crying foul.

The USF was created in the late 19th century as a way to ensure fair pricing for telephone services across rural and urban areas.

The FCC ruled to deregulate DSL last year, reclassifying DSL as an information service rather than a communications service. That removes DSL from the purview of the USF and the surcharge will no longer be collected.

BellSouth will simply keep its $2.97 monthly fee, and keep calling it a "regulatory cost recovery fee." The company says that the fee goes to cover the cost of complying with federal regulations in general. But a spokeswoman for Consumers Union says that "BellSouth is clearly misrepresenting what the fee will pay for. I mean how can this be a 'regulatory cost recovery' when DSL is no longer regulated?" And I'm wondering, if regulation compliance cost that much, how was this expense handled while that surcharge went to the USF?"

/>LINK

WiFi mesh works in Tibet (and Toronto!)... but not in the US

They've built a WiFi mesh network in Tibet -much like some of Wireless Nomad's work- but the article points out phone companies have blocked such intiatives in the US. Good thing we have the CRTC enforcing competition here in Canada!

"...The volunteers are building a low-cost wireless mesh network to provide cheap, reliable data and telephony to community organizations. The Dharamsala Wireless Mesh is an example of "light infrastructure," a concept gaining popularity among tech developers: decentralized, ad hoc networks that can deliver essential services faster than conventional means.

Attempts to deploy similar community wireless networks in America have been blocked repeatedly by national phone carriers."



Wired article/

How To Keep Your Search History Private

How To Keep Your Search History Private

from the EFF, August 15, 2006

"How can you help prevent damaging privacy invasions like AOL's data leak? Along with spreading the word about this debacle, you can take steps to protect yourself online. Beneath the fold, we've listed some tips and tools that will help keep your search history private."

-Don't put personally-identifying information in your searches

-Don't use a search engine operated by your ISP

-Don't log in to a search engine account

-Don't accept cookies from your search engine

And other good advice!

LINK

Crazy WiFi Rabbit

Not cheap, but strangely alluring.


WiFi Rabbit

CIPPIC Telecom Policy resource page

CIPPIC Telecom Policy resource page:

Our internet connections are heavily regulated by the Canadian government: CIPPIC in Ottawa, along with its parter organizations, are helping to make sure that regulation works for all of us, not just the big telecom carriers -- helping to keep things like Wireless Nomad possible.

"CIPPIC and its partners focused on issues of concern to ordinary Canadians:

-Ensuring high quality telecom services at reasonable and affordable prices to all Canadians;
-Ensuring the availability of a wide range of telecom services and applications;
-Protecting individual privacy and ensuring network security;
-Preventing telecommunications fraud and deceptive business practices, and ensuring that consumers are not held responsible -for telecommunications fraud that they cannot control; and
-Providing telecommunications consumers with clear rights and effective redress mechanisms in respect of unfair business practices in the telecommunications market."

>CIPPIC Telcom Policy Page/

Network Status Page

Check out how the Wireless Nomad network is doing!

Includes number of nodes, # of free WiFi account users, total bandwidth pushed each day, etc.

Enjoy! (takes a few seconds to calculate and load, be patient...)

www.wirelessnomad.com/status/