All five FCC commissioners got doused as part of the Ice Bucket Challenge issued by CTIA President Meredith Baker, a former commissioner (http://bit.ly/1C32gtm). The challenge is a fundraiser for efforts to fight Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Chairman Tom Wheeler issued a challenge to all former FCC chairmen who haven’t taken part.
Twelve small wireless carriers, led by U.S. Cellular, urged the FCC to provide an additional 30 days for interested parties to file reply comments on the future of the Connect America Fund. If the FCC agrees, the new deadline would be Oct. 8. The Competitive Carriers Association earlier sought more time for replies (http://bit.ly/1vmwmWZ). “Over 1,000 pages of comments were filed by telecommunications providers, ISPs, electric cooperatives, equipment manufacturers, trade associations, industry groups, public utility commissions, and other filers” in the initial comment round, the carriers said in a filing in docket 01-92, posted by the FCC Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1tVdgTZ). Extra time is needed “to ensure that the extensive arguments and factual showings in the initial comments can be comprehensively addressed,” they said.
T-Mobile added six new music streaming services to its Music Freedom program. AccuRadio, Black Planet, Grooveshark, Radio Paradise, Rdio and Songza are available for customers to stream on T-Mobile’s Data Strong network “without ever hitting their LTE data bucket,” T-Mobile said Wednesday in a news release (http://t-mo.co/VNV1o3). The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council supported the action, in an MMTC news release. Music Freedom “has made history by opening its national wireless platform to diverse-owned enterprises,” MMTC said, referring to the addition of Radio One-owned Black Planet. Earlier this week, the carrier expanded a data plan (CD Aug 27 p14).
The FCC World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee (WAC) is nearing the end of its multiyear process and continues to make steady progress, WAC Chairman Scott Blake Harris, chairman of Harris Wiltshire, said during a meeting of the group Wednesday. “With the conference confirmed for November 2015, we're actually in the final stage of the work of our committee and if someone wants to say, ‘Thank God,’ that would be OK, too.” Harris said there has been acrimony as the group works through a few final positions. The WAC represents commercial interests as the administration prepares unified U.S. positions before next year’s WRC. WAC documents are at http://fcc.us/1qLdda4.
Broadcom introduced a new development kit for its WICED family (for Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices) family of components to enable developers to rapidly prototype “ideas and concepts” for Internet of Things devices and applications, the company said Wednesday. The $19.99 kit includes Broadcom’s newest Bluetooth Smart chip and five micro electro-mechanical systems and has a software stack that is Bluetooth 4.1 compatible, the company said. “By shortening the time between early ideas and end products, companies are able to deliver devices to market more quickly and with higher confidence in their success,” it said. Possible “use cases” range from a single-sensor technology to sophisticated programs gathering and analyzing data from multiple sensors, it said. It gave such smart home examples as using the kit to set up text alerts to be notified if a child’s bedroom rises above a certain temperature.
EBay is offering iPhone sellers a $100 coupon if their phones don’t sell on its site Sept. 1 to Oct. 24, eBay said Tuesday. In advance of the expected iPhone 6 launch in the next few weeks, eBay released an infographic presenting historical data to predict the impact the new iPhone will have on existing iPhones and the electronics re-sell market. According to eBay, with each new iPhone model, the selling price of the iPhone models 4, 4s and 5, after the 5c and 5s launched, “averaged at around $280.” Prices have reached up to $420 on eBay for a used iPhone, it said. Four previously owned iPhones were sold every minute after the 5s/5c announcement, eBay said, and 16,700 iPhones were sold on eBay the weekend following availability of the 5s/5c last year. Some 400,000 iPhones were sold during the release cycles of iPhone 4s and later, eBay said.
A week after Canada-based ChargeSpot announced the first wireless charger that’s compatible with both Qi and PMA wireless charging standards, the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) asserted its independence with its Qi spec, providing a status report on Qi penetration in offices, restaurants, airports, hotels and public venues. A Qi spokeswoman told us there’s no correlation between WPC’s status report and the ChargeSpot release last week. WPC said Tuesday that the installed base of Qi-enabled wireless chargers reaches 30 countries and more than 1 million locations. “WPC’s 200-strong member companies are fueling exciting innovation of the Qi standard, Qi products and Qi-based business services, which is driving the accelerated adoption of wireless charging by consumers and businesses around the globe,” said John Perzow, WPC vice president-market development, citing 65 models of Qi-enabled phones and “over 500 different products that use Qi.” WPC said companies including Facebook, Google, Texas Instruments and Verizon have installed Qi chargers in corporate meeting rooms; nine McDonald’s restaurants in Germany recently installed Qi chargers, as have several coffee shops in Toronto and a restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Kube Systems announced a deal with Marriott Hotels for a Qi charging system, WPC said. Verizon has deployed 800 Qi-enabled charging spots in U.S. airports, while Haier installed charging stations in the Beijing airport and DoCoMo installed Qi charging systems in airports and train stations in Japan, it said. The installed base of Qi chargers charge one device at a time, the spokeswoman said. The company has yet to release its specification for resonant charging that will enable multi-device charging, she said.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology extended the deadline for filing reply comments on a petition by the Association of Global Automakers asking the agency to rethink a March order extending the upper limit of the 5725-5825 MHz U-NII-3 band to 5850 MHz (http://fcc.us/XffL9d). The auto industry plans to use the spectrum for dedicated short-range communications systems designed to help drivers avoid accidents (CD Jan 16/13 p1). The automaker group sought the extension, citing the “complex issues” raised by opponents of its reconsideration petition. Replies were due Monday. The new deadline is Sept. 2, said the OET public notice on docket 13-49 (http://bit.ly/1viNLzV).
A new survey showed that most Americans want technology that will allow them to be located with more accuracy when they make a 911 call from inside their homes, the Find Me 911 Coalition said Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1qpe6bW). The group released an online survey of more than 1,000 respondents that said two-thirds of wireless subscribers thought emergency responders could locate them at least to their block, if they call 911 from inside their homes. “Only 6 percent of cell phone owners correctly responded that the information would likely only be accurate to the neighborhood level or worse,” the coalition said. Sixty-three percent said they would consider switching providers if it meant they could be more accurately located when they make an indoor call to 911, the survey found. “When people dial 9-1-1 on their cell phones, they think the operator can find their location to send help,” said Jamie Barnett, director of the coalition and former FCC Public Safety Bureau chief. “Unfortunately, the carriers have chosen cheaper, less effective location technologies, and people are dying because emergency responders can’t find them.” The coalition is supported by TruePosition, a company that offers alternative technology for locating wireless 911 callers (http://bit.ly/1pHjVRV). Carriers fired back at the coalition. “The latest from Jamie Barnett and his client, location vendor TruePosition, only reveals their objective to derail efforts by CTIA and its member companies to find a viable solution,” said Scott Bergmann, CTIA vice president-regulatory affairs. “It doesn’t help public safety or consumers to continue to press for mandates that existing technology can’t deliver.” Carriers understand the importance of delivering “precise, accurate information” to PSAPs, but TruePosition’s technology is “just one solution among many, and carriers should be allowed to choose the service that best fits their technology needs,” said Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association. “We are not aware of any viable solution for precise wireless indoor location information available today,” he added. AT&T made a filing at the FCC Tuesday, questioning claims the coalition has made of poor wireless carrier performance on 911 calls in Washington, D.C. Verizon and T-Mobile have made similar filings at the agency (CD Aug 20 p9). “Unfortunately, rather than contributing to the serious conversation about wireless E911 and indoor location accuracy, apparently the FindMe911 Coalition has decided to continue (in bad faith) to draw erroneous conclusions from data collected by the FCC from various [public safety answering points] throughout the country,” AT&T said in a filing in docket 07-114.
The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment Tuesday on Sprint’s Aug. 14 requests for waivers permitting 800 MHz wideband operations in three National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee (NPSPAC) regions before the 800 MHz reconfiguration is complete in each. The regions are: New Mexico (Region 29), Texas-El Paso (50) and Texas-San Antonio (53). In all of the regions, the rebanding is mostly complete, the bureau said in a public notice (http://bit.ly/1ARFdjD). Comments are due Sept. 25, replies Oct. 10, in docket 14-133.