Users in our forums direct our attention to claims that at least one small WISP has had their service put out of commission due to electric utility smart meters operating in the 900 MHz band. We've previously noted how utility smart meters are interfering with residential Wi-Fi routers, and we're seeing a growing number of complaints about the meters interfering with other residential gear as well. The solution from utilities so far appears to be the hope that all consumers migrated to 2.4GHZ and 5.8 GHZ bands so they don't have to change. However, some smart meters also use the 2.4 GHz range. California has been a focused hotbed in this debate because many people with proclaimed electromagnetic sensitivity disorders have been trying to get the wireless signals disabled. Whether it's because it "messes with your chakras, dude" or it just screws up your router, utilities in several markets are now charging an extra fee to turn the radio portion of the smart meter off. Ironically, many of the companies that failed to succeed in the broadband over powerline (BPL) business because of interference, jumped immediately into the smart meter technology business to run face-first into interference problems of a completely different sort.

For years we've watched as the corporate-funded "fauxcademic" group the Heartland Institute took tobacco-industry money, then argued that the industry's ties to cancer deaths were based on "junk science." They've been very active on the broadband front, taking money from incumbent ISPs and then arguing how there is no broadband price, coverage or speed issues, while also fighting tooth and nail against the rights of towns and cities to wire themselves.

Heartland isn't having a very good week, with leaked documents and e-mails showcasing how the firm takes corporate cash to sow seeds of doubt about established science and indisputable data. While they have always hidden their funding, the documents show the company takes money from AT&T, Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

On the heels of reports that AT&T might be thinking about buying Leap, Leap Wireless issued fourth quarter earnings that missed many analyst expectations. The company saw a higher churn (customer defection) rate than expected of 3.9%, which the company attributed to "billing system problems that affected new and existing customers in the quarter." The company did add 179,000 customers in the quarter, but it appears the initial surge of competitive impact is starting to wane as the bigger four carriers focus more on Leap's target market. In their conference call with the media Leap stated their LTE deployment remains on target, with the company planning to cover 25 million people with LTE by the end of 2012.

Despite constant tales of spectrum crisis from some corners (including Verizon), Verizon was already on record years ago stating they had plenty of spectrum for their LTE deployment. Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead this week reiterated the company's solid spectrum position, saying that after their spectrum acquisition from the cable industry they're in a "solid spectrum position." Their position is so solid, in fact, that Verizon doesn't see the need to even sweat about re-purposing existing spectrum anytime soon. Refarming "is not something that is in front of us in the immediate future because those networks are growing for us," says Mead.

• Feds propose blocking all in-vehicle communications by a driver, including texting, dialing, Internet browsing, and even entering GPS addresses [pcmag.com]
• More iPhone Tracking: Google, Others Bypassed Apple Browser Settings for Guarding Privacy [wsj.com]
• Spectrum crunch: All talk, no action, and consumers suffer [cnet.com]
• Mapping LTE: AT&T & Verizon's 4G Footprints [lightreading.com]
• Clearwire says it may need more moolah, even after just getting a $1 billion infusion [totaltele.com]
• Better Business Bureau's Advertising Division Says Comcast Can Keep Claiming Better HD, Faster Internet Than AT&T, But Cannot Claim Telco Offers Poor Quality Infrastructure [multichannel.com]
• Technology and the election [economist.com]
• 'Nomophobia' up as more folks fear being mobileless [cnet.com]
• Google looking to reduce Chromebook Wi-Fi connection problems [techworld.com]
• Netflix brining DVD-only rentals back [gizmodo.com]
• A 4G iPad Requires A Sensible Shared Data Plan [techdirt.com]

• Music Industry Mulls Suing Google Over “Pirate” Search Results [torrentfreak.com]
• Canadians revolt over draconian internet privacy bill [theregister.co.uk]
• Milestone: 1 billion HSPA & LTE broadband connections [cellphonedigest.net]
• How politics inflame the 'specdtrum crisis' [cnet.com]
• Why Deep Packet Inspection Is(n’t) Being Talked About [blogcritics.org]
• FTC warns enforcement action may be next for mobile apps for kids [networkworld.com]
• Android may account for 80% of developing markets by 2015 [MSNBC.com]
• U.S. Cellular Announces Next 4G LTE Markets and Mobile Hotspot Availability [globenewswire.computer]
• Nintendo offers Hulu Plus on Wii [gamingevolution.com]
• Amazon Kindle Fire climbs to top of Android pack [cnet.com]
• Microsoft creates mini internet to reliably test and improve Internet Explorer [extremetech.com]

"White space" broadband, a technology that rides on the unlicensed spectrum freed by the migration to digital television, only recently got off the ground and has great promise as a new, long range niche wireless alternative. Still, the technology faced being killed by regulation this week after AT&T tried to sneak language into the payroll tax extension bill that would have not only crippled the FCC's ability to place competitive rules on spectrum auction, but it would have also prevented them from allocating unlisenced spectrum in the TV white spaces.

Two months ago law enforcement in Estonia shut down a massive Internet traffic hijacking scheme that used the latest versions of DNSChanger Trojans to hijack search results while blocking victims from visiting security sites. According to security researcher Brian Krebs, DNS Changer remains on computers at 50% of Fortune 500 companies, and on PCs at nearly 50% of all federal government agencies.

Keeping pace with AT&T's freshly-announced new LTE markets, Verizon has a few new market announcements of their own. According to a Verizon press release, they're expanding LTE network coverage in Little Rock, Arkansas; Rapid City, South Dakota; Clarksville, Tennessee; and San Antonio, Texas. The company is also turning on LTE for the first time in Cookeville, Tennessee. With this latest launch, Verizon says they now offer LTE service in 196 markets, which are broken down with Verizon's latest LTE availability map (pdf).

Last month we noted how French ISP Iliad was shaking up the French wireless market with some creative pricing, which included an introductory basic free tier of service (an idea that's taking root in the States now). With the offering clearly popular among users tired of paying an arm and a leg to France's uncompetitive incumbents, France Telecom is now claiming the new service is straining their network, so they'll of course have to renegotiate the deal they made with Free (read: raise rates so Free's business model becomes untenable): This is the same France Telecom that absolutely refused to compete on price when Free entered the market, claiming their competitive pricing would be "bad for network quality and innovation." According to the incumbent CEO, they didn't need to compete on price because "we offer security, reliability and innovation." Just not on pricing. France Telecom negotiated a contract and did their homework, but with Free succeeding more than they expected -- it's time to change the terms and raise rates.

Whether it's AT&T claiming congestion to justify DSL caps and $10 wireless overages, or Canadian ISPs claiming congestion to justify predatory usage-based pricing, you do start to notice a trend wherein congestion is used by incumbents as a bogeyman to justify everything from massive overages to anti-competitive behavior. The best part about the congestion bogeyman is that telcos never have to provide actual data evidence of congestion -- and the press never bothers to ask for any.

AT&T has announced that they've turned on their new LTE network in Tampa, Florida, Sarasota, Florida, and parts of Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina. With the Durham launch AT&T has now launched LTE services in 28 markets nationwide, though they remain well behind Verizon's LTE launch footprint, which is nearing two hundred markets. While Verizon may have a big lead, early tests (at least on a largely unoccupied network) show that AT&T's implementation of LTE is somewhat faster in a number of markets. AT&T expects to have their LTE build out completed by the end of 2013.

Yesterday the FCC put a nail in LightSquared's coffin by announcing that they would not be granting a previously-promised waiver on spectrum conditions necessary to get the hybrid LTE/satellite network up and running. As we noted yesterday, LightSquared's chance at survival at this point without that waiver is virtually nonexistent due to limited cash and the constant flood of negative GPS interference reports.

Back when they were hoping to salvage the T-Mobile deal, AT&T had been in talks with Leap Wireless about offloading some resources and subscribers to try and make the deal more palatable to regulators. Those talks have continued beyond the DOJ and FCC rejection of the T-Mobile deal, the Wall Street Journal claiming that AT&T has considered trying to acquire either Leap Wireless or MetroPCS.

Speaking on the company's fourth quarter conference call, Clearwire yesterday announced that they plan to switch on their first LTE-capable towers in June. "To satisfy the conditions for Sprint's LTE commitment, we are targeting at least the first 5,000 of these LTE sites to be on air by June of 2013, with a slightly longer-term objective of overlaying a total of approximately 8,000 sites," said CEO Erik Prusch on the call (full transcript here). Clearwire expects to begin the buildout near the end of the first quarter, though it's far too early for prices and device specifics. Prusch did say the company was on the hunt for more wholesale arrangements and will look to have plenty of opportunities with the collapse of LightSquared.

• LightSquared accuses FCC of “the height of bureaucratic irresponsibility” and of being puppets of scheming politicians [slashgear.com]
• Sprint on the hook for $65M for LightSquared FCC fail [gizmodo.com]
• AT&T pursuing Leap Wireless for it's spectrum? [theverge.com]
• MPAA: Ripping DVDs Shouldn't Be Allowed Because It Takes Away Our Ability To Charge You Multiple Times For The Same Content [techdirt.com]
• Deutsche Telekom considering bailing out of UK after T-Mobile USA sale fail [bloomberg.com]
• EU states must allow 4G Internet use on analog TV spectrum by January 2013 [thenextweb.com]
• France Tel CEO says network stressed by ultra low-cost service Free Mobile [reuters.com]
• Fiber is the future [washingtonpost.com]
• FTTx connections rise 69% in Europe [telecoms.com]
• Did FCC veto of LightSquared also put the brakes on widespread 4G deployment? [infoworld.com]
• Sony completes Ericsson buyout, Sony Mobile Communications is born [theverge.com]
• DARPA planning high-speed wireless for soldiers in the field [engadget.com]

• The Case for Publicly Owned Internet Service [bloomberg.com]
• Congress has questions for Apple as company vows to purge iPhone apps that swipe addresses after 'Path-gate' debacle [networkworld.com]
• Billionaire Lightsquared Hedge Fund manager: No bankruptcy (yet), and we have a plan to deal with FCC rejection (but we're not telling you what that is) [reuters.com]
• FCC votes to require VoIP outage reporting, but does not extend reporting requirement to broadband Internet service outages [broadcastingcable.com]
• AT&T expands 4G LTE network to Florida and North Carolina [slashgear.com]
• Verizon Expands Its 4G LTE Network In Four Markets [cellphonedigest.com]
• Cisco Appeals Europe’s Approval of Microsoft’s $8.5 Billion Skype Acquisition [allthingsd.com]
• The RIAA's Dream Turns to Nightmare - Inside The Pirate Bay's Torrent Purge [dailytech.com]
• Clearwire surges after Lightsquared falters [kansascity.com]
• Boost for Wireless in Europe As More Spectrum is Made Available [cio.com]
• Apple finally embracing LTE? [yahoo.com]
• "Femto" Cell out, "Small" Cell in [lightreading.com]
• Gartner: Android captured half of global smartphone market in Q4 [fiercewireless.com]
• Google says it has fixed major flaw, reactivates Google Wallet prepaid card provisioning [fiercemobilecontent.com]
• []

Google's 1 Gbps residential fiber service is officially underway in Kansas City, with consumers expected to be up and running sometime in the second half of the year. Building on earlier rumors that Google was planning to add an IPTV service into the mix, the company is reported to have applied for an FCC license back in December allowing them to run the antenna farm necessary to get into delivering television. While it's still unlikely that Google will ever really want to get into the broadband business, it should be interesting to see what kind of products they offer when they control the development of the content, the pipe, and the even the set top box. Both incumbent ISPs and privacy advocates probably have nightmares that look something like this.

Comcast recently told investors their DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades had been "completed", though our users have a somewhat different definition of what that word means. During this morning's conference call the company clarified those comments a little by saying their "XFINITY brand is now launched in 100% of our footprint," but that doesn't mean 100% of their customers can get faster DOCSIS 3.0 speeds. We've seen users in Ocala, Florida, Santa Cruz, California, and parts of Louisiana, Danbury, Connecticut saying they can't get the faster speeds yet. Still, Comcast's deployment of DOCSIS 3.0 was nothing short of amazing -- especially when compared to the more glacial upgrade pace of carriers like Time Warner Cable. Has the Comcast DOCSIS 3.0 fairy reached your house yet?