Our Work and Position on Broadband in California
The IRREGULATORS is an independent, consortium of senior telecom experts, analysts, forensic auditors, and lawyers who are former senior staffers from the FCC, state advocate and Attorneys General Office experts and lawyers, as well as former telco consultants.
New Networks Institute has heen a market research and consulting firm, established in 1992.
Free Download: History of Fiber Optic Broadband in California, 1993=2006
Originally published as a chapter in $200 Billion Broadband Scandal, in 2005, we were featured on Bill Moyer’s Emm- nominated “the Net at Risk”, in a segment called “The New Digital Divide” It was the first national broadcast program on Net Neutrality.
By the end of the year 2000, Pacific Bell (AT&T California) was supposed to have 5.5 million households upgraded to fiber optics and spend $16 billion. The company got tax perks and over time rate increases but nothing was ever built as described to the public. In 2004, AT&T announced U-Verse, which was supposed to be a fiber to the home service, and it ended up using the existing copper wires.
September 2021: We wrote a new series of letters to Govenor Newsom:
- Dear Governor Newsom, Please Do Not Sign the Corporate-Sponsored Wireless Bills; Start Investigations Instead. This addresses the 2 corporate-sponsored wireless legislation (SB 556and AB 537), that should not be signed into law because they do not solve the Digital Divide and they help AT&T et al.; they are self-serving and created with the help of the American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC, it appears.
And we supply a brief history of the failed fiber optic deployments in CA by Pacific Bell/AT&T California.
- Dear Governor Newsom; Here’s the Fiber Optic Future that Didn’t Happened in California. Dear Senator Hueso, (San Diego), (Chairman of the Standing Committeeon Energy, Utilities and Communications) This letter focuses on the failed fiber optic deployments in California that were all the rage in the 1990’s, including the “landmark” agreement with the city of San Diego to be upgraded to fiber optics, here called ‘VDT”–Video Dialtone–by 2010 never happened
- Dear Gov. Newsom: Get the Money Back to Fix the Digital Divide. Do Not Sign the Industry-Based Wireless Legislation; Follow the Money. We estimate that $1–$2 billion dollars annually to the state of California from AT&T California (sometimes called “Pac Bell”) could be avilable if the CA annual financial report matches what is been happening with Verizon NY.
As is plainly shown in the Verizon NY 2020 Annual Report, , there are massive financial cross-subsidies revealed in these manipulated financial books. (The Verizon NY 2020 Annual Report published May 27th, 2021.)
- Dear Gov. Newsom: Are You Going to Back the ALEC-AT&T-CTIA Takeover of the FCC? Don’t Sign: Investigate the CA Corporate-ALEC Wireless Bills.
In tracking the wireless bills for years, we uncovered that a) these bills were most likely created by AT&T et al. and their associations, including the CTIA, the wirelsss associations, staring over a decade ago. What was not known is that the FCC’s current 5G regulation, called “CARR’s 5G Order”, after Commissioner Brendan Carr, was based on “model legislation created by ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, and it has been used the model legislation has been used in 20 states. Worse, the FCC had state representatives and other claim they are backing the FCC’s 5G regulation — only to find that they, too, are ALEC member or are tied to ALEC. Meanswhile, over a decade ago, Brendan Carr was the lawyer for the CTIA and they sued the city of San Fransisco, over wireless issues — and Gov. Newsom was then Mayor of San Francisco.
- Read A Summary
- Ca Broadband Council Complete Filing
- Additional Report:AT&T’s Comments to the CA Broadband Council Exposes Serious Questions about the Company’s Network Investments.
- Summary Release about the Report
- Ca Public Utility Commission Filing
II. AT&T CA’s Failure to Upgrade CA With Fiber Optics; Bait-And-Switch Resources.
iii. California AT&T Broadband & Fiber Optic Archive, 1993-2019
Huffington Post/Medium articles about AT&T and
Huffington Post/Medium articles about AT&T and California
- Open Letter to California about SB-649: You’re being Played by ALEC & AT&T Et Al.
- The Copper-Wire World of AT&T: The Reason to Investigate AT&T, Now
- Expose: AT&T CS Fiber Optic Scandal: Billions Charged for Broadband that Never Showed Up.
- Californians Paid Billions Extra: The State Assembly Should Investigate AT&T’s Cross-Subsidies.
- Brendan Carr Omitted Critical Facts inTestimony to Congress: He Worked for AT&T, Verizon, Et Al.
- Regulatory Capture of the FCC: Stacking the Deck with the New Proposed Republican Commissioner
- California Wireless Legislation: Paid for by AT&T Et Al.
- AT&T, ALEC, FCC. The FCC’s plans are based on AT&T’s Petition,rom ALEC Model Legislation.
- AT&T’s 1000 Foot Violation of AT&T-DirecTV Merger Conditions?
- AT&T’s Fiber Optic Construction Last Six Years===$140 Billion, and “FiberHype”?
- The FCC and AT&T Don’t Care About Rural Areas and They Can Just Make Crap Up
- Are the FCC and AT&T Harming the Children of Rural Communities?
- MobTel: Some of America’s Most Hated ISPs, Cable TV and Wireless Companies Have Their Associations Suing the FCC Over Net Neutrality
- Stop the AT&T-DirecTV Merger or History Will Slap Us in the Face
- Will the FCC Ignore Our Complaint? Did AT&T Commit Perjury, Claiming it had Covered 100 Percent of 21 States With Broadband?
- Did AT&T Commit Perjury? Does AT&T have 100 Percent Broadband Coverage in 21 States?
- Did AT&T, Verizon, Et al., Garner Over $17 Billion in ‘Very Small Business’ Spectrum Licenses?
- Telecom Sleaze: ALEC and Its Communication’s Funders — AT&T, Verizon, Centurylink, Comcast and Time Warner Cable
BACK IN THE STACKS: 2002-2010
- FREE REPORT on Telecom Charges. Phone, Broadband, Wireless, Internet & Cable Charges in San Diego, California.
- With the removal of AT&T as a competitor, the prices of service increased and there was a clear harm to customers in terms of choice of service, Also, it is clear that this impacted previous AT&T customers adversely, especially low volume or low income families. — Based on survey of actual phone bills in San Diego CA working with UCAN, on a grant from the CA Consumer Protection Fund, done originally in 2004 then repeated in 2008.
- Teletruth Files Two Comments about AT&T-BellSouth Merger:
- Competition: FCC Can’t Create Enforceable Merger Conditions.FCC/Bells Harmed Competition — 43% Drop in Wholesale Lines. The Mergers Eliminated Competitors.