Service vs Content

No tv make me go something something. This could not have come at a worse time, NFL football, baseball playoffs, start of the NBA season. This cable dispute is using it’s customers as a human shield.

Looks like a big showdown is about to come to a head. News Corp vs Cablevision pits service providers against the content providers, who will win? Rather than work things out in a board room both sides are taking a hard line approach and this channel ban is the result. Of course it’s all over money. The content providers are going to withhold their product (ie. hold their breath) until the service provider gives in, because their customers constantly call up and yelling at them, and throw more money at the problem to make it go away. Could be a major precedent. Is that the sound of cable bills going up?

While it hasn’t happened yet in Canada the problem could move north. Perhaps this is why Bell made a recent acquisition buying up CTV. I’m sure if a dispute arises in the great white north cooler heads will prevail and no such channel banning will occur, we hope.

So whats more important? The content or the service provider? Either way the customer loses.

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Iphone users sucking up all the 3G?

An interesting article here points out some very interesting numbers about the iPhone, their users, and the drain on AT&T’s 3G network. Which makes me wonder whether this whole idea of iPhone exclusivity was a detriment to the service provider. On the one hand you’re revenue stream is almost guaranteed for the next few years. On the other hand it’s also a guarantee that your 3G service will be limited, expect service outages. It’s no secret the many disgruntled iPhone users in the U.S. are unhappy with AT&T. But how much of that is to be blamed on the network and how much is to be blamed on the user? Is it unreasonable that the average iPhone user suck up 10 times the 3G bandwidth than the average 3G subscriber?

Perhaps it’s time to lay off the tweets, hmm? You don’t NEED to check your email every 5 minutes. The 3G pipe intended to serve all users has been used up by thirsty iPhone users. The other argument could be made that AT&T was not prepared for the deal it made with Apple and that the pipe should be bigger to begin with. However that takes a whole lot of money invested in infrastructure. Money which AT&T has been slow to recoup from 3G data plans. Plus Apple getting cut as well doesn’t help.

Spreading out the load over several service providers might make a difference but it still does not solve the excessive 3G usage problem. Just save some 3G for me will ya?

Twitter’s Terms of Service causing a storm

Microblogging/social messaging service Twitter has become the center of a new debate about online harassment and what services’ responsibilities are the protect their users. What started out as the fairly run-of-the-mill harassment of a female user has turned into a much larger controversy over terms of service, the definition of a community, and what protections the site might have under the law.

The sequence of events began like this: Ariel Waldman, now community manager for Twitter competitor Pownce (but was apparently not in this position when the issue began) became the subject of what she characterizes as harassing “tweets” (140-character messages sent to the service, usually broadcast to the public) last June containing her full name, e-mail address, and disturbing comments. At that time, she reported it to Twitter’s community manager, who subsequently removed the offending user’s updates. (ArsTechnica)

Class action lawsuit over text messaging costs

Another day, another class-action wireless consumer lawsuit. This one is big, though, naming six mobile-phone carriers and a top mobile virtual network operator as defendants in a complaint filed in Mississippi federal court.

“This action seeks recovery for actual and compensatory damages sustained by plaintiffs and others similarly situated. At this time, plaintiffs are specifically seeking recovery against the defendants for unauthorized charges, wrongful collections and unjust enrichment,” the stated the 12-page suit filed by attorneys with the Graves Law Offices P.L.L.C. in Jackson, Miss.

The allegations, among other things, focus on charges for unsolicited text messages received by subscribers “without offering its customers the opportunity to avoid such charges by opting out of text messaging and refusing to disable its customers’ text messaging service.” (link)

SP3 causing problems … you were expecting something else?

Within hours of its release, Microsoft’s Service Pack 3 for Windows XP began drawing hundreds of complaints from users who claim the update is wreaking havoc on their PCs.

The problems with XP SP3, according to posters on Microsoft’s Windows XP message board, range from spontaneous reboots to outright system crashes.

“My external disks are having trouble starting up, which results in Windows not starting up,” complained user Michael Faklis, in a post Wednesday. “After three attempts [to install XP SP3] with different configurations each time, System Restore was the only way to get me out of deep s**t,” said ‘Doug W’.

Another user said the service pack prevented him from starting his computer. “I downloaded and installed Windows XP Service Pack 3 Network Installation Package for IT Professionals,” wrote ‘Paul’. “Now I can’t get the computer to boot.”

Dozens of other posters reported similar problems. (link)

SP3 for XP released

On Monday, Microsoft released to manufacturers (RTM) the final code for Windows XP SP3. The upgrade provides support for WPA2 and the Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP) used in Windows Vista, among other things. The public version will be available for download via the Web on April 29. Based on our initial installation, the upgrade will be effortless for most Windows XP users.

The last Service Pack for Windows XP, SP2, was released in August 2004. The initial release took some users all night to download and install. The company pushed back the initial public release from June 2004 originally. Despite numerous glitches still present in the code, Windows XP SP2 was formally made public on August 20, 2004, and Microsoft had to work hard to convince users to upgrade. (link)

Comcast to stop interfering with P2P

Comcast Corp., an Internet service provider under investigation for hampering online file-sharing by its subscribers, announced Thursday an about-face in its stance and said it will treat all types of Internet traffic equally.

Since user reports of interference with file-sharing traffic were confirmed by an Associated Press investigation in October, Comcast has been vigorously defending its practices, most recently at a hearing of the Federal Communications Commission in February.

Consumer and “Net Neutrality” advocates have been equally vigorous in their attacks on the company, saying that by secretly blocking some connections between file-sharing computers, Comcast made itself a judge and gatekeeper for the Internet.

They also accused Comcast of stifling delivery of Internet video, an emerging competitor to the cable company’s core business. (link)