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This Week's Wireless News Headlines:

• Apple Watch Charging Bug Fixed in watchOS 8.4 Release Candidate
• Making the Case: Why Pagers and Smartphones Should Wed
• I bought the $19 Apple Polishing Cloth so you don't have to
• MAKING SENSE OF NEW TV FEATURES IN 2022
• Why you should think hard about where you mount that new TV
• The inventor of the World Wide Web says his creation has been abused for too long
• Inside Towers
  • 5G Not a Problem for European Airlines, N’est-ce pas?
• BloostonLaw Telecom Update
  • Commissioner Carr Criticizes New Broadband Infrastructure Investment Rules
  • FCC Adopts Rules Formally Implementing Affordable Connectivity Program
  • Chairwoman Rosenworcel Circulates New Data Breach Reporting Requirements
  • FCC Announces Winning Bidders in 3.45 GHz Auction
  • Additional Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Support Authorized
  • FCC Publishes 2021 Annual USF Monitoring Report
  • CC Announces Membership of Telecommunications Workforce Working Group
  • FCC Announces Membership of Communications Equity and Diversity Council
  • Deadlines
  • BloostonLaw Contacts
  • Calendar At-a-Glance
• LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
  • Reader needs help to find donated paging infrastructure.
• TECHNICIAN'S CORNER
  • Understanding SACD and DSD
• THIS WEEK'S MUSIC VIDEO
  • “Georgia Grind”
  • Tuba Skinny with Maria Muldaur

NO POLITICS HERE

This doesn't mean that nothing is ever published here that mentions a US political party—it just means that the editorial policy of this newsletter is to remain neutral on all political issues. We don't take sides.

A new issue of the Wireless Messaging Newsletter is posted on the web each week. A notification goes out by e-mail to subscribers on most Fridays around noon central US time. The notification message has a link to the actual newsletter on the web. That way it doesn’t fill up your incoming e-mail account.

There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. Readers are a very select group of wireless industry professionals, and include the senior managers of many of the world’s major Paging and Wireless Messaging companies. There is an even mix of operations managers, marketing people, and engineers — so I try to include items of interest to all three groups. It’s all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology.

I regularly get readers’ comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the Paging, and Wireless Messaging communities. You are welcome to contribute your ideas and opinions. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence addressed to me is subject to publication in the newsletter and on my web site. I am very careful to protect the anonymity of those who request it.

I spend the whole week searching the INTERNET for news that I think may be of interest to you — so you won’t have to. This newsletter is an aggregator — a service that aggregates news from other news sources. You can help our community by sharing any interesting news that you find.

Editorial Opinion pieces present only the opinions of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of any of advertisers or supporters. This newsletter is independent of any trade association. I don't intend to hurt anyone's feelings, but I do freely express my own opinions.

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Service Monitors and Frequency Standards for Sale

Motorola Service Monitor

IFR Service Monitor

IFR 500A Service Monitor

(Images are typical units, not actual photos of items offered for sale here.)

Thursday January 20, 2022 4:01 pm PST by Juli Clover The watchOS 8.4 release candidate that was seeded to developers and beta testers this morning addresses an ongoing bug that could cause some Apple Watch chargers not to work properly with the Apple Watch.

Back in December, we reported on a growing number of charging issues that Apple Watch Series 7 owners were facing. Since watchOS 8.3, there have been a number of complaints about third-party chargers not functioning as expected.

For many users, third-party chargers would refuse to charge an ‌Apple Watch Series 7‌ at all, and some others saw problems where the charger would appear to work normally, and then quit working after a few minutes.

Many of the reports focused on more affordable third-party chargers from Amazon, but there were also complaints about higher-end chargers from brands like Belkin. Some people even had charging issues with Apple's own Apple Watch charging pucks.

According to Apple's release notes for the watchOS 8.4 update, the software specifically fixes a bug that could cause some Apple Watch chargers not to work, suggesting the charging issues will come to an end when watchOS 8.4 sees a release.

Apple seeded the release candidate version today, and the release candidate represents the finished version of the software that will be provided to the public. We could see a watchOS 8.4 release as soon as next week.

50 years experience providing and supporting radio and paging customers worldwide. Call us anytime we can be useful!

			Minitor VI
Leavitt sells and supports most pager brands. We stock Unication G1, G5, Secure and some Elegant pagers. Call or e-mail for price and availability.

Making the Case: Why Pagers and Smartphones Should Wed

by Fred Lizza, CEO of Statum Systems 10/20/2020

Fred Lizza, CEO at Statum Systems

Clinicians in healthcare settings typically have information coming at them from all directions, at all times, and often with little distinction as to the level of urgency. It makes for inefficiency and confusion for today’s busy doctor.

In today’s hospital setting, that disjointed communication creates dissonance and distraction. Even though the world has gravitated to the ubiquitous use of smartphones, that’s not the dominant form of connection for physicians. The vast majority of hospitals still depend on paging systems to quickly reach doctors as they circulate through a facility and even outside it.

In fact, a study published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine in 2017 found that hospitals provided pagers to 80 percent of hospital-based clinicians, and more than half of all physicians in the survey reported that they received patient care-related communication most commonly by pager. Other information sources reported in the study included unsecured standard text messaging (53 percent of clinicians), and 27 percent used a secure messaging application.

While paging systems seem like a throwback form of technology, they have a history of providing reliable connections between clinicians in hospital settings. They operate on a frequency that is less prone to interference, and they travel significantly farther than messages traveling on cellular networks or Wi-Fi. That means pager signals reach hospital areas that are likely to have bad reception, such as radiology departments or basements. In addition, pager signals are not susceptible to surges in demand or network overload situations, which may occur during emergencies.

However, many hospitals are taking steps to resolve some of these issues. For example, a variety of technologies, such as repeaters, range extenders, or boosters, can improve coverage to challenge areas for both Wi-Fi and cellular networks.

Even so, pagers — a technology that was patented in 1949 and first used in New York City’s Jewish Hospital — are now a duplicative device that does not match the capability of the smartphones that physicians rely on. Many report that it’s frustrating to have to carry a separate paging device that does not fully meet their communication needs.

Pagers don’t work like physicians need them to. For example, it’s frustrating to receive a page, then return the call as requested, only to find that the doctor or nurse who initiated the page is no longer on duty or otherwise inaccessible. That typically requires a message to voicemail or further calls to find out how to reach the other clinician. Communication that could be handled in two minutes with a smartphone could take as much as half an hour to complete with a pager-based system. And that interferes with other work that a clinician should be accomplishing during hospital rounds.

Here’s one real-life example from a surgeon at a major Boston-area hospital. The doctor needed to reach a radiology technologist after regular work hours to get post-surgery X-ray images of a patient uploaded to another EHR system. The physician eventually calls the technologist’s pager number, but there are no instructions for how to ensure the message was left or even if the page went through. The physician calls a nurse to have her call the technologist’s page number on his behalf, but still has no assurance that the call went through. Finally, the technologist returned the call after 35 minutes and multiple phone calls.

Paging systems also have security shortcomings. Many pagers are not fully secure, exposing messages sent over a system to anyone who can tap into the frequency being used. As a result, many pagers and pager messaging systems are not HIPAA compliant, exposing hospitals to potential liability or even hacking or service attacks that could impact communications.

To improve efficiency and security, healthcare organizations need to look to gravitate toward an all-encompassing medical communications system that captures all pager-like messages and seamlessly incorporates them into a collaboration platform that does not rely on store-and-forward functionality.

Over recent years, clinicians have come to accept and widely use smartphones as a form factor, and their multi-tasking capability also enables clinicians to do more than one task — for example, communicate via text messages, consult an electronic health records system and engage in verbal communication with one or more clinicians.

While the utility of the pager network remains and pager systems are likely to stay in use for the foreseeable future, it is important for healthcare systems to keep the technology but get away from the pager form factor. Transforming the system won’t get rid of pagers completely but will enable physicians to get pager messages in a different way, connecting the current highly accessible pager network directly to a medical professional’s smartphone.

Such a strategy combines the ease of use and convenience of a smartphone with the advantages of a pager network.

About Fred Lizza

Fred Lizza is CEO of Statum Systems, a developer of advanced mobile collaboration platforms geared to caregivers. He was previously CEO of StrategicClaim, an insurance claims platform, and Freestyle Solutions, an e-commerce leader. Fred earned his MBA from Harvard University.

Paging Transmitters 150/900 MHz

The RFI High Performance Paging Transmitter is designed for use in campus, city, state and country-wide paging systems. Designed for use where reliable simulcast systems where RF signal overlap coverage is critical.

• Commercial Paging systems.
• Healthcare Paging systems.
• Public Safety Emergency Services Paging systems.
• Demand Response Energy Grid Management.

Built-in custom interface for Prism-IPX ipBSC Base Controller for remote control, management and alarm reporting.

• Use as a stand-alone unit or in wide area network.
• Mix with other transmitter brands in an existing paging network.
• Adjustable from 20-250 watts.
• 110/240 VAC or 48VDC.
• Absolute Delay Correction.
• Remote Diagnostics.
• Configurable alarm thresholds.
• Integrated Isolator.
• Superb Reliability.
• Improved amplifier efficiency.
• Most reliable high-powered paging transmitter available.

Prism-IPX Systems LLC.

11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022
Ph: 678-242-5290 Email: sales@prism-ipx.com
prism-ipx.com

The Wireless Messaging News
Board of Advisors

The Board of Advisor members are people with whom I have developed a special rapport, and have met personally. They are not obligated to support the newsletter in any way, except with advice, and maybe an occasional letter to the editor.

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I bought the $19 Apple Polishing Cloth so you don't have to

Is this truly the greatest polishing cloth to ever grace the Earth?

RICHARD DEVINE 19 January 2022

Source: Windows Central

Whenever Apple launches new products, the Internet, nay, the world, seems to go into overdrive. The hype is hard to contain. Well, apparently. But with the last batch, everyone was going crazy over a $19 polishing cloth.

Has the world gone mad, or is this truly the greatest piece of cloth ever sold?

More importantly ... what's it like when you use it to wipe a Surface? Bet Tim Cook didn't see that one coming.

The $19 Apple Polishing Cloth

Source: Windows Central

Lots of us like to be critical of the so-called "Apple tax" and the inflated prices compared to the competition. And I have to say, hand on heart, there might be something to it with this polishing cloth, guys.

It's got a lot to live up to if it wants to replace the Razer polishing cloth I currently wipe my mucky fingerprints away with. And that one was free.

The unboxing experience is quite something, though. That is to say, there is an unboxing experience. It's mad enough that a courier delivered this, knocked on my door, and handed it to me, proudly passing on another Apple delivery to an eager owner. Wonder what he would have said if I'd told him it was a cloth?

Once you peel back the tape and pull apart the tabs, you're greeted with something quite magical. On first impressions, this really is the GOAT of polishing cloths. It looks so pretty, nestled there in its white security blanket as it makes its grand debut into the world.

And kudos to Apple. This is the first polishing cloth I've ever owned that came with paperwork. You don't see that attention to detail everywhere.

So true to Apple's usual form, it looks nice and costs quite a lot of money. But what's it like to use?

Wipe all the things

Source: Windows Central

Is it heresy to wipe down a Surface Go 2 with an Apple Polishing Cloth? I mean, I have an iPad, but that's no fun, is it? So, the wipe test. What's this thing truly made of. I had my doubts, after all, Apple's description doesn't mention non-Apple products:

Made with soft, non-abrasive material, the Polishing Cloth cleans any Apple display, including nano-texture glass, safely and effectively.

It's pretty magical, though. It glides across the display, demolishing smudges and fingerprints with ease. And it's so soft in the hand, wiping away the greasy finger marks from last night's kebab is a joy. It's effortless. I don't know how Apple did it, I really don't.

It's so good I found myself wanting to wipe everything. My phone, my laptop, my kids' faces (OK, not that last one really). How can a bit of cloth be so good?

Apple has succeeded pretty well in making you want to clean up after yourself and make your devices a little less disgusting every day.

On a serious note to close out, I won't tell you not to buy a $19 polishing cloth if you really want to. I buy dumb things all the time. It is genuinely a good cloth, but $19? Really, Apple?

There are more questions to be asked about why this thing costs so much than I care to begin with. The Apple Tax is alive and well, folks.

Providing Expert Support and Service Contracts for all Glenayre Paging Systems.

The GL3000 is the most prolific paging system in the world and Easy Solutions gladly welcomes you to join us in providing reliable support to the paging industry for many more decades in the future.

Easy Solutions provides cost effective computer and wireless solutions at affordable prices. We can help in most any situation with your communications systems. We have many years of experience and a vast network of resources to support the industry, your system and an ever changing completive landscape.

• We treat our customers like family. We don’t just fix problems . . . We recommend and implement better cost-effective solutions.
• We are not just another vendor . . . We are a part of your team. All the advantages of high priced full-time employment without the cost.
• We are not in the Technical Services business . . . We are in the Customer Satisfaction business.

Experts in Paging Infrastructure

• Glenayre, Motorola, Unipage, etc.
• Excellent Service Contracts
• Full Service—Beyond Factory Support
• Making systems More Reliable and MORE PROFITABLE for over 30 years.

Please see our web site for exciting solutions designed specifically for the Wireless Industry. We also maintain a diagnostic lab and provide important repair and replacement parts services for Motorola and Glenayre equipment. Call or e-mail us for more information.

Easy Solutions
3220 San Simeon Way
Plano, Texas 75023
Vaughan Bowden
Telephone: 972-898-1119
Telephone: 214 785-8255
Website: www.EasySolutions4You.com
E-mail: vaughan@easysolutions4you.com

GLENAYRE INFRASTRUCTURE

Service Contracts

I would like to recommend Easy Solutions for Support of all Glenayre Paging Equipment. This Texas company is owned and operated by Vaughan Bowden. I have known Vaughan for over 35 years. Without going into a long list of his experience and qualifications, let me just say that he was the V.P. of Engineering at PageNet which was—at that time—the largest paging company in the world. So Vaughan knows Paging.

GTES is no longer offering support contracts. GTES was the original group from Vancouver that was setup to offer support to customers that wanted to continue with the legacy Glenayre support. Many U.S. customers chose not to use this service because of the price and the original requirement to upgrade to version 8.0 software (which required expensive hardware upgrades, etc.). Most contracts ended as of February 2018.

If you are at all concerned about future support of Glenayre products, especially the “king of the hill” the GL3000 paging control terminal, I encourage you to talk to Vaughan about a service contract and please tell him about my recommendation.

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INTERNET Protocol Terminal

The IPT accepts INTERNET or serial messaging using various protocols and can easily convert them to different protocols, or send them out as paging messages.

An ideal platform for hospitals, on-site paging applications, or converting legacy systems to modern protocols.

Additional/Optional Features

• Database of up to 5000 subscribers.
• 4 serial ports on board.
• Up to 8 phone lines (DID or POTS).
• Can be configured for auto-fail-over to hot swap standby.
• 1RU rack mount unit appliance—no moving parts.
• Easily secure legacy system messages leaving site for HIPAA compliance.
• Only purchase the protocols/options you need.
• Add Paging Encryption for HIPAA compliance on site.

Prism-IPX Systems LLC.

11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022
Ph: 678-242-5290 e-mail: sales@prism-ipx.com
prism-ipx.com

Paging Data Receiver PDR-4

The PDR-4 is a multi-function paging data receiver that decodes paging messages and outputs them via the serial port, USB or Ethernet connectors.

Designed for use with Prism-IPX ECHO software Message Logging Software to receive messages and log the information for proof of transmission over the air, and if the data was error free.

• Option—decode capcode list or all messages.
• Large capcode capacity.
• Serial, USB and Ethernet output.
• POCSAG or FLEX page decoding, special SA protocols.
• Receivers for paging bands in VHF, UHF, 900 MHz.
• Message activated Alarm Output.
• 8 programmable relay outputs.
• Send notifications of a system problem.

• Synthesized Receiver Tuning.
• Selectivity better than 60 dB.
• Frequencies 148-174, 450-470, 929-932 MHz.
• Image Rejection better than 55 dB.
• Spurious Rejection better than 55 dB.
• Channel Spacing 12.5 or 25 kHz.
• Power 5VDC.
• Receiving Sensitivity 5µV at 1200 bps.

Prism-IPX Systems LLC.

11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022
Ph: 678-242-5290 e-mail: sales@prism-ipx.com
prism-ipx.com

Wireless Network Planners
Wireless Specialists

R.H. (Ron) Mercer Consultant 217 First Street East Northport, NY 11731
Telephone: 631-786-9359
www.wirelessplanners.com
wirelessplannerron@gmail.com

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

MAKING SENSE OF NEW TV FEATURES IN 2022

Buying a TV can be a confusing ordeal, but it doesn’t need to be

By Chris Welch @chriswelch Jan 18, 2022, 10:45am EST

Every year after CES, there can be a new pile of buzzwords and technology shorthand that can go up and over the head of many consumers — even when those acronyms often describe meaningful advancements that are worth knowing about.

So with all the latest TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, TCL, Hisense, and others now announced and due to ship over the next few months, it seems an opportune moment to review the features you should be looking for when TV shopping.

Stay tuned over the coming months for TV and soundbar buying guides. But if you’re in the market for a new TV right now, these are the terms you should be looking for when comparing products.

WHAT TV HARDWARE FEATURES MEAN

ALLM: Auto low latency mode is a useful feature that detects when you’ve plugged a gaming system into your TV (or have started playing a game on a streaming box) and automatically activates the TV’s “game” mode with optimized settings that produce the lowest possible input lag. This means there will be a minimal delay between you pressing a button on the controller and seeing the resulting action in the game.

Dolby Atmos: An immersive surround sound format that goes beyond previous experiences by introducing height channels, which make audio more three-dimensional. Atmos home theater systems and soundbars often include up-firing speakers to make some on-screen action sound like it’s happening overhead.

eARC: The enhanced audio return channel is usually labeled on one of your TV’s HDMI ports. This is the port you’ll want to plug your soundbar or home theater system into. On modern TVs, eARC allows for the transmission of uncompressed, immersive 7.1 Dolby Atmos surround sound and eliminates the extremely frustrating audio sync frustrations that can be present when using soundbars on some older TVs. Definitely make sure your next TV has eARC among its features.

HDMI 2.1: The “definition” of HDMI 2.1 was recently thrown into disarray when it was discovered that a device or HDMI cable being labeled as compliant with the 2.1 spec doesn’t actually guarantee anything. Instead of focusing on HDMI 2.1, the best practice for consumers is now to check for the specific features like 4K at 120Hz, VRR, and others mentioned in this list. In terms of cables, looking for something that supports 48Gbps throughput is also important.

How did we get here? | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

HDR: High dynamic range is a must-have feature for any TV in 2022. It produces much brighter highlights and deeper, more vivid colors when playing HDR content. Aside from the basic, widely supported HDR10 format, other HDR formats include Dolby Vision, which allows for different picture optimizations on a frame-by-frame basis, and HDR10 Plus, which offers similar benefits but with a smaller content selection.

MicroLED: Throw out everything you know about regular TVs. Samsung’s MicroLED displays bring together the best features of OLED — self-emitting pixels, perfect blacks, and so on — without most of the drawbacks. MicroLEDs use microscopic, inorganic LEDs that individually produce light and color.

A close-up of Samsung’s MicroLED display technology. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

These micrometer-scale LEDs are transferred onto tile-like modules, allowing for a display of various shapes and potentially any size. Samsung also sells more TV-like MicroLED displays at preset sizes. But, unfortunately for most of us, since MicroLED is still a new and costly technology, it’s wildly expensive, and these displays cost more than most cars. (Think over $100,000.)

Mini LED: For the past several years, many of the best LCD TVs have used a backlighting system called “full-array local dimming” with a number of individual LEDs behind the screen that illuminate and dim in accordance with the content being shown. These LEDs form dimming “zones” that allow some areas of the screen to be very dark while other sections might simultaneously be powerfully bright with HDR content.

Image: TCL

Mini LED iterates upon that approach by shrinking the LEDs significantly — and cramming many, many more of them into the backlight array. The end result is more precise contrast and less “blooming,” which occurs when a halo of light can be seen around bright objects or text on screen. Mini LED doesn’t eliminate blooming altogether, but it’s often less noticeable. All those tiny LEDs also make for better overall brightness uniformity across the TV’s display.

OLED: They’ve long been hailed as the best TVs you can buy for a reason: OLED (organic light-emitting diode) TVs offer perfect blacks thanks to their self-emissive pixels and no need for a traditional backlight. Viewing angles are stellar, contrast is unrivaled, and OLED can make practically anything you put on the screen shine.

OLED TVs offer unbeatable, perfect black levels. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

That said, OLED TVs aren’t perfect at everything: they usually trail LCD TVs in overall brightness, and the possibility of permanent burn-in hasn’t yet been overcome, even if LG, Sony, and other OLED TV makers have measures in place that make the problem very unlikely.

QD-OLED: CES 2022 marked the big debut of QD-OLED panels on both TVs and gaming monitors. These quantum dot OLED displays are made by Samsung Display and differ from those manufactured by LG Display because they offer true RGB color reproduction and can maintain vivid colors across the brightness range.

Traditional OLEDs emit light through a color filter, but QD-OLED beams blue light through quantum dots to create red and green and produce the rest of the color spectrum. This more efficient approach has benefits, including improved overall brightness levels and even better viewing angles than OLED already offers.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OLED AND QD-OLED?

QD-OLED screens differ from the traditional OLED panels that’ve long been manufactured by LG Display in the way they produce an image. LG’s displays are considered WRGB OLED, because they use blue and yellow OLED compound to generate white-ish light pixels that are passed through color filters to produce red, green, and blue sub-pixels. More recent OLED TVs also have a fourth unfiltered / white sub-pixel meant to enhance brightness — especially for HDR content.

QD-OLED changes this up by emitting blue light through quantum dots to convert some of that blue into red and green without any need for the color filter. (Blue is used because it has the strongest light energy.) This leads to greater light energy efficiency; since you’re not losing any light to the color filters, QD-OLED TVs should offer brightness gains compared to past-generation OLEDs.

A simplified breakdown of QD-OLED. | Image: Samsung Display

They should also be able to maintain accurate, vivid quantum dot color reproduction even at peak brightness levels, whereas WRGB OLED can sometimes exhibit some desaturation when pushed that far. The already-superb viewing angles of OLED are claimed to be even better on QD-OLED at extreme angles since there’s more diffusion happening without the color filter in the way.

The possibility of burn-in isn’t eliminated by QD-OLED, but the hope is that these panels could exhibit a longer overall life span than existing OLED TVs since the pixels aren’t working as hard. Samsung Display is using three layers of blue OLED material for each pixel, and that could help to preserve longevity.

The first QD-OLED TVs are expected to ship in 2022 and are likely to cost noticeably more than those from LG, so we’ll need some actual hands-on time to determine if these upgraded panels are worth the price premium. But it’s still exciting to see the best TV tech (that normal people can potentially afford) continue to evolve.

VRR: The latest TVs with variable refresh rate allow games on a PS5 or Xbox Series S / X to adjust their refresh rate at up to 120Hz for much smoother on-screen action. (In 2022, some TVs will increase this as high as 144Hz for PC gaming.) VRR also proves helpful at smoothing out any brief hitches or drops in frame rate to the point that they’re often unnoticeable, letting you focus on the game itself instead of your console’s technical performance.

TERMS YOU SHOULD IGNORE AND / OR AVOID IN 2022

8K: Manufacturers continue to produce new 8K TV models each year, but the entertainment industry as a whole still hasn’t made a dent in the biggest problem area: there’s still a dearth of native 8K content that’s easy to stream.

Edge-lit LED: Cheaper LCD TVs will often have edge lighting — with LEDs around the perimeter of the screen instead of behind it — that results in significantly worse picture quality, uneven uniformity, and mediocre black levels compared to sets with local dimming. It can be enticing to buy a giant-sized TV at a low price, but as the old saying goes, if it’s too good to be true, it usually is.

Brad Dye, Ron Mercer, Allan Angus, Vic Jackson, and Ira Wiesenfeld are friends and colleagues who work both together and independently, on wireline and wireless communications projects.

Click here for a summary of their qualifications and experience. Each one has unique abilities. We would be happy to help you with a project, and maybe save you some time and money.

Note: We do not like Patent Trolls, i.e. “a person or company who enforces patent rights against accused infringers in an attempt to collect licensing fees, but does not manufacture products or supply services based upon the patents in question.” We have helped some prominent law firms defend their clients against this annoyance, and would be happy to do some more of this same kind of work.

Some people use the title “consultant” when they don't have a real job. We actually do consulting work, and help others based on our many years of experience.

“If you would know the road ahead, ask someone who has traveled it.” — Chinese Proverb

Remote AB Switches

ABX-1 switches are often used at remote transmitter sites to convert from old, outdated and unsupported controllers to the new modern Prism-IPX ipBSC base station controllers. Remotely switch to new controllers with GUI commands.

ABX-1

ABX-3 switches are widely used for enabling or disabling remote equipment and switching I/O connections between redundant messaging systems.

ABX-3

Common Features:

• RJ45 for A, B and Common connectors.
• Manual push button or use Prism IP commands to switch one or more relays.
• Single or Dual Port Control card for IP or Serial connection.
• Form C relay—control local connection.
• Power Loss Indicator.
• Rear Panel Connector for controlling the switch externally.
• Power Source: 5VDC for ABX-1; 12VDC for ABX-3.

Prism-IPX Systems LLC.

11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022
Ph: 678-242-5290 e-mail: sales@prism-ipx.com
prism-ipx.com

Why you should think hard about where you mount that new TV

Don't put your TV in the sun and other rules of thumb. Here are the best and worst places to put your TV.

Geoffrey Morrison Jan. 18, 2022 7:14 a.m. PT

Sarah Tew/CNET

Believe it or not, proper placement can have a huge effect on your TV's performance. Both image and sound quality can be significantly reduced by putting the TV in the wrong place. You don't want to put it too high, and you definitely don't want to put it above a fireplace. A slight seating shuffle, or adjusting your preferred pedestal placements, could yield better picture quality or allow for a larger TV.

I can't come to your home to help with ideas (sorry), but I can give you some do's and don'ts when it comes to TV placement, to point you in the right direction (i.e., toward the screen).

Before you get the idea of a 22-inch LCD stuck in the corner of the ceiling, mounting above a fireplace, or putting an 84-inch 8K TV smack in the middle of the room, keep the following tips in mind.

Do's: 5 things to do before you set up your new TV

Do check TV height

While there's no set height for TV placement, ideally you don't want the TV to be too high. Staring up at a TV is like sitting in the front row of a movie theater. It's not ideal, not comfortable and not conducive to long viewing sessions. Generally speaking, you want the center of the TV to be about eye level, or even slightly lower. This is true whether you're mounting the TV or putting it on a stand. For more on this, check out: How high should I put my TV?

Getty Images/Westend61

Do check the distance from your couch to your TV

It's unlikely anyone reading this is going to be sitting too close to their TV. Sitting closer to your TV has two benefits: It fills more of your field of view (so it's more immersive), and you can see more resolution (the image is more detailed). If you can't or don't want to sit closer, you can alternatively get a larger TV. Check out this article on how big a TV you should buy for more info.

Do look out for sources of TV glare

Room lighting and reflections are the no. 1 killer of TV images according to a study I just made up. The fact is, nearly every modern TV has a reflective screen, and I don't care how awesome your lamps are, they're not as interesting as what's on TV. Sure, you can just turn off the lights (or close the blinds), but sometimes that's not easy or possible. If it isn't, check out our piece on how to rid your HDTV of reflections.

That view, though... Getty Images/Ibrahim Akcengiz

If you're thinking of wall mounting, keep in mind all the Do's mentioned so far. Plus, if you're thinking of getting an LCD, make sure you get a wall mount that's able to pivot or adjust. With few exceptions, LCDs have worse performance if you're not sitting directly in front of them. Being able to pivot or move a wall-mounted TV so it's aimed directly at your eyeballs will be a huge improvement in picture quality (compared to the same TV not aimed at you). It's worth mentioning at this point that TV weight is not a limiting factor when it comes to mounting.

Probably not the most ideal spot. Getty Images/OJO Images

Do consider more than style

When it comes to TV stands, there are countless options. Consider the TV height in addition to whatever style you like. Most stands are fairly uniform in height, and a few inches above or below ideal isn't going to matter, but a large TV on a tall stand isn't a great idea.

Do consider safety, especially if you have young kids

Turns out that falling TVs injure a lot of kids every year. Find out how to keep your TV from falling over if you've got kids or lively pets.

Don'ts: 7 common TV placement mistakes

Reflections might be a problem here. Getty Images/Robert Daly

Don't mount your TV too high

A TV at the correct height is going to look really low when you're standing. Which is fine, since most of the time you won't be standing when you're watching it. Mounting a TV too high can literally be a pain in the neck. If you want a good laugh, there's an entire subreddit devoted to pictures of people who have mounted their TVs too high.

Don't mount a TV above the fireplace

Seriously. Don't mount a TV above a fireplace. For the above reason and more (not the least of which is that heat is the enemy of all electronics). Even if you never use your fireplace, mounting a TV above it is almost always too high to watch from a couch.

Though clean looking, a bookshelf or other cabinet can reduce sound quality and limit the size of a TV you can get in the future. Getty Images/Tetra Images

Don't feel limited by a cabinet, bookcase or entertainment center

If you have a cabinet, bookcase or entertainment center where your TV has always been, it's worth considering losing it. That's a big ask, especially for a new TV, but consider two things. First, it not only limits the size of the TV you can get, but the quality. If your cabinet can only fit a 42-inch TV, know that the better TV tech like local dimming, OLED and Mini-LED are almost exclusively available in larger sizes. If they can be found in smaller sizes, there are usually only one or two models. Second, depending where the TV's speakers are located, a cabinet could severely reduce the TV's sound quality and volume. (If you have a 5.1 speaker system or soundbar, this won't be an issue.)

Don't put your indoor TV outside

Don't mount a "regular" TV outside. There are TVs made for just that. Or, if you don't want to spend the money on a TV designed for outdoors, just know that any TV you leave out there isn't likely to last long (even if it's under an awning). Best to bring it in when you're not using it.

Don't feel you need a 'real' TV

For kitchens and bathrooms, something like a Google Nest Hub or Amazon Echo Show might get you everything you need without the size and hassle of a full-size TV.

Don't sit too far away from your TV

However, you can get a larger TV to compensate. At 10 feet away, you could get the largest TV on the market and still not see pixels.

Don't put your TV at a weird angle

If you have to turn your head to see the screen, it's just going to lead to sore necks. Twisting your head a bit may not seem like a big deal, but keeping it that way for hours at a time can be a pain -- literally.

I'd recommend a subwoofer. Getty Images/Photo Alto Milena Boniek

Bottom line

Let's take two rooms as examples. First room: You have a great TV, mounted high on a wall near the corner, with the sofa and adjacent lamps, on the other side of the room in the other corner. These poor folks have a small-seeming TV, lots of reflections, and stiff necks from turning and looking up at the TV. Second room: The TV is mounted at eye level, the sofa is 8 to 9 feet away, and there are no lamps to reflect on the screen. In which room would you want to watch a marathon of The Expanse?

Proper placement can determine a significant portion of the overall enjoyment of a new TV. It's worth considering adjusting your room to be more conducive to comfortable TV viewing. Not only will you gain potential picture and comfort improvements, but in the process, you might free up more space for other things. Like a rug that really ties the room together. Or that life-size Boba Fett you've always wanted.

Once you've got the placement figured out, here's how to set up your new TV. Or, if you've already got it set up, here are some important picture quality settings to adjust, including turning down the sharpness control. If you're having trouble hearing dialogue, there are some settings you can adjust that might help.

Note, Jan. 18, 2022: This article was first published in 2013 but has been updated with new info, links and images.

The inventor of the World Wide Web says his creation has been abused for too long

By Joel Khalili
January 19, 2022

The web has veered away from its original purpose, suggests Sir Tim Berners-Lee

(Image credit: Shutterstock / drserg)

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has called for a tighter focus on addressing the imbalance of power on the web.

Speaking to Fujitsu CTO Vivek Mahajan at the company’s ActivateNow Summit, attended by TechRadar Pro, Berners-Lee suggested his creation has veered away from its original mission.

“The vision was that the web should be for anything and anyone. The fact that it would be independent of computer, network and language was really important. But we need to make sure users have a web that is actually useful and constructive, and there are lots of things we need to fix,” he said.

“Right now, people’s data is being used for inappropriate purposes by large companies, in order to understand and manipulate them. Another problem is that all my private data is stored by online platforms and stuck in silos, so I can’t really use it. We have a lack of empowerment of the individual.”

Solid Pods

Berners-Lee’s solution to these problems is a commitment to building what he calls Solid Pods, decentralized data stores that offer users granular control over who is given access to their private data.

This is the objective of his company, Inrupt, which is partnering with enterprises and governments to expand access to Solid Pods and establish systems founded on mutual trust.

In an ideal world, says Berners-Lee, the individual has the power to utilize the entire data spectrum (which ranges from publicly available data one one end to private information like medical results on the other) and control which data is shared, and with whom.

“When everything is set up on the basis of trust, the user will also share more powerfully; they will share their data not only with doctors, but also with researchers working on cancer treatments, for example. It’s a system based on intentional economics, driven by the intent of the person who wants to do things,” he explained.

He also says it’s time that smartphones, tablets and other devices are put to work for their owners, as opposed to the companies that manufacture them or develop the operating system.

“When asking a device who it works for, the answer should not be: ‘a large company milking you for all the data it can get, to trap you into buying things you wouldn’t otherwise buy’. In the future, the answer should be: ‘I work for you, I’m your agent’,” said Berners-Lee.

“When we go looking for things to buy on the Internet, or deciding how to spend the day, the device needs to have the user’s best interests in mind. Our technology needs to work for the individual.”

Although the scale of the problem is sobering, Berners-Lee says he is optimistic about the maturation of the web, which he hopes will become a more collaborative space built around the interests of the individual.

Joel Khalili

Joel Khalili is a Staff Writer working across both TechRadar Pro and ITProPortal. He's interested in receiving pitches around cybersecurity, data privacy, cloud, storage, Internet infrastructure, mobile, 5G and blockchain.

5G Not a Problem for European Airlines, N’est-ce pas?

So, here’s the FCC-FAA argument over 5G on which Inside Towers has reported extensively. The FAA and major U.S. airlines have taken issue with the FCC allowing the wireless carriers to use C-band frequencies in the 3.7-4.2 GHz range, especially that portion allocated for 5G use in the 3.7-3.98 GHz frequency range.

Let’s be clear. This portion of the C-band is the only 5G frequency range in contention. There are no other interference or related safety issues with low-band (600/700/800 MHz), lower mid-band (AWS, 3.45-3.55 GHz, CBRS 3.55-3.7 GHz) or millimeter-wave frequencies well above 10 GHz.

The FAA argues the 5G C-band frequencies are too close to those frequencies used by radio altimeters in aircraft of all types but especially commercial aircraft. Radio altimeters operate in the 4.2-4.4 GHz frequency range. This means there is a separation of 220 MHz between the high end of 5G frequencies at 3.98 GHz and the low end of the radio altimeter range at 4.2 GHz.

Even though it’s 5G, the C-band situation in Europe is completely different from the U.S. Most significantly, 5G services in Europe use a lower 3.4-3.8 GHz frequency range. This means there is 400 MHz or 1.8 times the separation from the high end of the European C-band range at 3.8 GHz and the low end of the radio altimeter range at 4.2 GHz. This larger separation significantly buffers the interference potential.

Besides frequency separation, interference can be minimized or eliminated with lower transmit power levels, restricting the placement of 5G cell sites close to airports and by tilting antennas downward to limit potential interference with aircraft flying at low levels.

In France, for instance, mobile operators must tilt antennas away from flight paths at 17 major French airports to minimize the risk of interference, as directed by France’s National Frequency Agency (ANFR). ANFR implemented these measures out of an abundance of caution. France’s civil aviation authority told CNN Business that “no event of 5G technology interfering with aircraft altimeters has been recorded by French operators.”

Nonetheless, the issue is safety. This proximity of frequencies, the FAA claims, could potentially hamper radar altimeter operation and affect the cockpit readings of how close to the ground an aircraft may be flying. Worse case, the pilots may not have accurate altitude readings during landings especially when visibility is reduced. Clearly this is a scenario to be avoided.

The FAA is so concerned about safe aircraft operation being affected by C-band interference that last week it issued nearly 1,500 orders limiting flight operations across the U.S. (see, FAA Seeks to Minimize Delays but Issues Almost 1,500 Flight Limits for 5G)

The unresolved debate between the FCC and the FAA has raised concerns among airlines outside the U.S. so much so that some international carriers have begun curtailing flights to the U.S. even though European airlines have not reported any of the FAA-cited problems in their home countries.

“The technical data received from EU manufacturers offers no conclusive evidence for immediate safety concerns at this time,” stated the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), according to a CNN Business report. “At this time, EASA is not aware of any in-service incidents caused by 5G interference,” added EASA, which oversees civil aviation in 31 European countries.

Similarly, the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority in a safety notice stated, “there have been no confirmed instances where 5G interference has resulted in aircraft system malfunction or unexpected behavior.”

Both AT&T and Verizon are most affected by these U.S. inter-agency machinations since they won the biggest blocks of C-band licenses. Still, both companies are cooperating by lowering the RF transmit power at cell sites near major airports, in some cases not activating a few cell sites at all, and by keeping full power 5G sites at a distance from flight paths. These accommodations are finite while both carriers give the governing bodies more time to sort through the issues.

By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor

Selected portions [sometimes more — sometimes less — sometimes the whole updates] of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update and/or the BloostonLaw Private Users Update — newsletters from the Law Offices of Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy & Prendergast, LLP — are reproduced in this section of The Wireless Messaging News with kind permission from the firm's partners. The firm's contact information is included at the end of this section of the newsletter.

Commissioner Carr Criticizes New Broadband Infrastructure Investment Rules

On January 14, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr issued a Press Release expressing concern about the final rules that govern the expenditure of $350 billion in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, which were released last week by the Treasury Department. According to the Press Release:

With respect to funding for broadband projects, the Administration’s rules green-light spending to overbuild existing, high-speed networks in communities that already have fast Internet service, rather than directing those dollars to the rural and other communities that lack access to any broadband service today. This decision deviates from the Treasury Department’s initial proposal, and it risks deepening the digital divide in this country. It will be up to states to correct this error.

Commissioner Carr’s full statement can be found here.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

Headlines

FCC Adopts Rules Formally Implementing Affordable Connectivity Program

On January 14, the FCC voted to formally adopt a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that provides detailed guidance for the Affordable Connectivity Program, a $14.2 billion federal initiative that offers qualifying households discounts on their Internet service bills and an opportunity to receive a discount on a computer or tablet from participating providers. As we reported in previous editions of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, the FCC is currently transitioning from the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program to the Affordable Connectivity Program.

The Affordable Connectivity Program will provide eligible households with discounts of up to $30 a month for broadband service, and up to $75 a month if the household is on Tribal lands. It also will provide a one-time discount of up to $100 on a computer or tablet for eligible households.

The Affordable Connectivity Program is open to households that meet one of the following criteria: have incomes at or below 200% of federal poverty guidelines; participate in certain assistance programs, such as Lifeline, Medicaid, SNAP, federal public housing assistance, WIC, or SSI, Tribal specific programs such as Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribal TANF, or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations; households with kids receiving free and reduced-price lunch or school breakfast; Pell grant recipients; or if they meet eligibility criteria for a participating provider’s existing low-income program.

According to a Press Release, the Affordable Connectivity Program also requires participating providers to allow the consumer to apply the benefit to a much greater array of broadband plans than previously; includes limitations on the use of credit checks or existing debt by service providers to prohibit enrollment in the program; prohibits certain sales agent practices deemed inappropriate, such as upselling or downselling; and includes measures to reduce bill shock and to disallow restrictions on switching providers or broadband service offerings.

“The Federal Communications Commission made history when it launched the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, setting up what was at the time the nation’s largest-ever broadband affordability program. Now, Congress has asked us to stand up its successor, the Affordable Connectivity Program. I’m proud of our efforts to do so because the reality is that for too many families across the country paying for their Internet bill can mean making sacrifices in other parts of their budget. The Affordable Connectivity Program is here to help,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

Chairwoman Rosenworcel Circulates New Data Breach Reporting Requirements

On January 12, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel issued a Press Release announcing that she has circulated among her fellow Commissioners a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would “begin the process of strengthening the Commission’s rules for notifying customers and federal law enforcement of breaches of customer proprietary network information (CPNI) …” and “…better align the Commission’s rules with recent developments in federal and state data breach laws covering other sectors.”

According to the Press Release, the proposal outlines several updates to current FCC rules addressing telecommunications carriers’ breach notification requirements. These include:

• Eliminating the current seven business day mandatory waiting period for notifying customers of a breach;
• Expanding customer protections by requiring notification of inadvertent breaches; and
• Requiring carriers to notify the Commission of all reportable breaches in addition to the FBI and U.S. Secret Service.

The Notice also seeks comment on whether the Commission should require customer breach notices to include specific categories of information to help ensure they contain actionable information useful to the consumer and proposes to make consistent revisions to the Commission’s telecommunications relay services (TRS) data breach reporting rule.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Sal Taillefer and Cary Mitchell.

FCC Announces Winning Bidders in 3.45 GHz Auction

After 151 rounds of clock phase bidding (Oct. 5 to Nov. 16) and almost a month for the assignment phase (Dec. 6 to Jan. 4), the FCC last Friday announced the winning bidders from its 5G spectrum auction of flexible-use licenses in the 3.45-3.55 GHz band. AT&T and DISH Network (bidding though an affiliate named “Weminuche, LLC”) were the biggest winners of mid-band spectrum rights, followed by T-Mobile and Columbia Capital (bidding as “Three Forty-Five Spectrum, LLC”). In all, Auction 110 raised in excess of $22.4 billion in net bids for 100 megahertz of spectrum in 406 Partial Economic Areas (or “PEAs”).

Interestingly, Verizon did not win any licenses in Auction 110 despite having qualified as an eligible bidder. This should come as no surprise to those familiar with recent FCC auctions, since the carrier ate its fill of mid-band spectrum in last year’s C-band auction (Auction 107), which it dominated with more than $45 billion in winning bids. Coincidentally, Verizon and AT&T were scheduled to launch 5G service in 46 major metro areas today using a portion of this C-band spectrum. US airline companies have warned of potential chaos if 5G networks near major airports interfere with radio altimeters.

According to an FCC Press Release, thirteen of the twenty-three winning bidders in Auction 110 qualified as small businesses or as entities serving rural communities. In addition, compared to the prior 5G auction, this auction saw a substantial increase in the number of winning bidders per market: over one-third of the top 100 markets have at least four winning bidders, compared with 10% of the top 100 markets for Auction 107. Unlike the C-band auction, the 3.45 GHz auction imposed a 4 block limit (out of 10 blocks total) on the number of licenses any company could bid on and win.

The biggest winners in Auction 110 were as follows:

Winning bids in Auction 110 successfully surpassed a legal requirement that Auction 110 proceeds cover at least 110% of the expected sharing and relocation costs for federal users currently operating in the band—in this case $14,775,354,330, based on a January 14, 2021, estimate from NTIA.

BloostonLaw Contacts: John Prendergast and Cary Mitchell.

Law and Regulation

Additional Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Support Authorized

On January 14, the FCC issued a Public Notice announcing the authorization of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (Auction 904) support for a further 2,521 winning bids. A list of the winning bidders can be found here.

For each of the winning bids identified here, the FCC has reviewed the long-form application information, including the letter(s) of credit and Bankruptcy Code opinion letter(s) from the long-form applicant’s legal counsel. Based upon these materials, the FCC authorizes and obligates support for this batch of winning bids, and authorizes the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to take the steps necessary to disburse from the Universal Service Fund the appropriate amounts of support.

As a reminder, all Auction 904 authorized long-form applicants are subject to annual reporting of location information. Specifically, Auction 904 support recipients are required to file location information with USAC through the High-Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB) portal. This information includes geolocation data for each qualifying location to which they are offering the requisite service and the technology the Auction 904 support recipient is using to offer the requisite service to the qualifying locations. The requisite service is: at least one standalone voice plan and one service plan that provides broadband at the relevant performance tier and latency requirements at rates that are reasonably comparable to rates offered in urban areas. The locations must be in the eligible census blocks covered by the long-form applicant’s winning bids.

The FCC encourages carriers subject to defined deployment obligations and HUBB reporting obligations to report location data on a rolling basis and has adopted a best practice of filing this information within 30 days after the initial offering of service. While reporting on a rolling basis is encouraged, the first deadline for long-form applicants authorized by this Public Notice to submit their location data is March 1, 2023.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

Industry

FCC Publishes 2021 Annual USF Monitoring Report

On January 14, the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service published its annual Universal Service Monitoring Report, for data received through September 2021. A copy of the report can be found here.

The purpose of the Monitoring Report is to observe the impacts of universal service support mechanisms and the method used to finance them. Beginning in 1997, this is the twenty-fourth such report, prepared by federal and state staff members for the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service.

The Monitoring Report incorporates data from several sources, including the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA) and the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). Section 1 of the report provides an update on industry revenues, universal service program funding requirements, and contribution factors. Sections 2 through 5 provide the latest data on the low-income, high-cost, schools and libraries, and rural health care support mechanisms. Section 6 presents recent Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics data on voice telephony subscribership and expenses taken from the Current Population Survey, the American Community Survey and the Consumer Expenditure Survey as well as data on telephone subscribership by income by state. It also includes data on residential Internet subscribership and expenses. Section 7 includes updated Consumer Price Index data.

FCC Announces Membership of Telecommunications Workforce Working Group

On January 14, the FCC, alongside the Department of Labor, Department of Education, and NTIA, announced the members of a cross-agency working group that will collaborate to identify the current and future needs of the telecommunications industry workforce, including the safety of that workforce. The Working Group will present its recommendations in a report to Congress that must be submitted no later than January 14, 2023 –one year from the date the Working Group was established. A list of the membership can be found here.

In accordance with the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel appointed five members, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh appointed four members, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona appointed two members, and Evelyn Remaley, performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, appointed one member to the new interagency working group.

FCC Announces Membership of Communications Equity and Diversity Council

On January 13, the FCC issued a Public Notice announcing the appointment of individuals to serve as members of the three working groups of the Communications Equity and Diversity Council (CEDC or Council). The working groups include members of the CEDC, additional working group members, and independent subject matter experts. A list of the members can be found here.

According to the Public Notice, the CEDC’s mission is to focus on diversity and equity across the tech sector. The Council will provide the Commission with recommendations on advancing equity in the provision of and access to digital communication services and products for all people of the United States. The Innovation and Access Working Group will recommend solutions to reduce entry barriers and encourage ownership and management of media, digital, communications services and next-generation technology properties and start-ups to encourage viewpoint diversity by a broad range of voices. The Digital Empowerment and Inclusion Working Group will make recommendations for addressing digital redlining and other barriers that impact equitable access to emerging technology in under-served and under-connected communities. The Diversity and Equity Working Group will propose solutions and approaches on how the FCC can affirmatively advance equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity in the telecommunications industry to address inequalities in workplace employment policies and programs.

Deadlines

JANUARY 31: Form 855 HAC Compliance Certification. The next Hearing Aid Compatibility regulatory compliance certification, certifying compliance with the FCC’s HAC handset minimums as well as enhanced record retention and website posting requirements for the 2021 calendar year, will be due Monday, January 18, 2022, for all CMRS service providers (including CMRS resellers) that had operations during any portion of 2021. Companies that sold their wireless licenses during the 2021 calendar year will need to file a partial-year HAC compliance certifications if they provided mobile wireless service at any time during the year. Under current FCC rules, at least 66% of a Tier III provider’s handset must meet ratings of M3- or better and T3- or better. The benchmark applicable to Tier III providers will increase from 66% to 85% on April 3, 2023.

BloostonLaw has prepared a 2022 HAC Regulatory Compliance Template to facilitate our clients’ compliance with the revised HAC rules. Contact Cary Mitchell if you would like to obtain a copy of the HAC Regulatory Compliance Template.

BloostonLaw Contact: Cary Mitchell.

JANUARY 31: FCC FORM 555, ANNUAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIER CERTIFICATION FORM. All Lifeline Program service providers are required to file the FCC Form 555, except where the National Verifier, state Lifeline administrator, or other entity is responsible. Since January 31 falls on a weekend or holiday this year, Form 555 may be filed by February 1. The FCC Form 555 must be submitted to the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) electronically via USAC’s E-File (One Portal). Carriers must also file a copy of their FCC Form 555 in the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System, Docket 14-171, and with their state regulatory commission. The form reports the results of the annual recertification process and non-usage de-enrollments. Recertification results are reported month-by-month based on the subscribers’ anniversary date.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens and John Prendergast.

FEBRUARY 1: FCC FORM 499-Q, TELECOMMUNICATIONS REPORTING WORKSHEET. All telecommunications common carriers that expect to contribute more than $10,000 to federal Universal Service Fund (USF) support mechanisms must file this quarterly form. The FCC has modified this form in light of its decision to establish interim measures for USF contribution assessments. The form contains revenue information from the prior quarter plus projections for the next quarter. Form 499-Q relates only to USF contributions. It does not relate to the cost recovery mechanisms for the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund, the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA), and the shared costs of local number portability (LNP), which are covered in the annual Form 499-A that is due April 1.

FEBRUARY 1: FCC FORM 502, NUMBER UTILIZATION AND FORECAST REPORT. Any wireless or wireline carrier (including paging companies) that have received number blocks—including 100, 1,000, or 10,000 number blocks—from the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA), a Pooling Administrator, or from another carrier, must file Form 502 by February 1. Carriers porting numbers for the purpose of transferring an established customer’s service to another service provider must also report, but the carrier receiving numbers through porting does not. Resold services should also be treated like ported numbers, meaning the carrier transferring the resold service to another carrier is required to report those numbers but the carrier receiving such numbers should not report them. Reporting carriers are required to include their FCC Registration Number (FRN). Reporting carriers file utilization and forecast reports semiannually on or before February 1 for the preceding six-month reporting period ending December 31, and on or before August 1 for the preceding six-month reporting period ending June 30.

BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

FEBRUARY 1: Live 911 Call Data Reports — Non-Nationwide Providers that do not provide coverage in any of the Test Cities must collect and report aggregate data based on the largest county within its footprint to APCO, NENA, and NASNA on the location technologies used for live 911 calls in those areas. Clients should obtain spreadsheets with their company’s compliance data from their E911 service provider (e.g., Intrado / West).

BloostonLaw Contact: Cary Mitchell.

MARCH 1: COPYRIGHT STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT FORM FOR CABLE COMPANIES. This form, plus royalty payment for the second half of last year, is due March 1. The form covers the period July 1 to December 31, and is due to be mailed directly to cable TV operators by the Library of Congress’ Copyright Office.

BloostonLaw Contact: Gerry Duffy.

MARCH 1: CPNI ANNUAL CERTIFICATION. Carriers should modify (as necessary) and complete their “Annual Certification of CPNI Compliance” for this year. The certification must be filed with the FCC by March 1. Note that the annual certification should include the following three required Exhibits: (a) a detailed Statement Explaining How The Company’s Operating Procedures Ensure Compliance With The FCC’S CPNI Rules to reflect the Company’s policies and information; (b) a Statement of Actions Taken Against Data Brokers; and (c) a Summary of Customer Complaints Regarding Unauthorized Release of CPNI. A company officer with personal knowledge that the company has established operating procedures adequate to ensure compliance with the rules must execute the Certification, place a copy of the Certification and accompanying Exhibits in the Company’s CPNI Compliance Records, and file the certification with the FCC in the correct fashion. Our clients can forward the original to BloostonLaw in time for the firm to make the filing with the FCC by March 1, if desired. BloostonLaw is prepared to help our clients meet this requirement, which we expect will be strictly enforced, by assisting with preparation of their certification filing; reviewing the filing to make sure that the required showings are made; filing the certification with the FCC, and obtaining a proof-of-filing copy for your records. Clients interested in obtaining BloostonLaw's CPNI compliance manual should contact the firm for more information. Note: If you file the CPNI certification, you must also file the FCC Form 499-A Telecom Reporting Worksheet by April 1.

BloostonLaw contacts: Gerry Duffy and Sal Taillefer.

MARCH 1: FCC FORM 477, LOCAL COMPETITION & BROADBAND REPORTING FORM. This annual form is due March 1 and September 1 annually. The FCC requires facilities-based wired, terrestrial fixed wireless, and satellite broadband service providers to report on FCC Form 477 the number of broadband subscribers they have in each census tract they serve. The Census Bureau changed the boundaries of some census tracts as part of the 2010 Census.

Specifically, three types of entities must file this form:

1. Facilities-based Providers of Broadband Connections to End User Locations: Entities that are facilities-based providers of broadband connections — which are wired “lines” or wireless “channels” that enable the end user to receive information from and/or send information to the Internet at information transfer rates exceeding 200 kbps in at least one direction — must complete and file the applicable portions of this form for each state in which the entity provides one or more such connections to end user locations. For the purposes of Form 477, an entity is a “facilities-based” provider of broadband connections to end user locations if it owns the portion of the physical facility that terminates at the end user location, if it obtains unbundled network elements (UNEs), special access lines, or other leased facilities that terminate at the end user location and provisions/equips them as broadband, or if it provisions/equips a broadband wireless channel to the end user location over licensed or unlicensed spectrum. Such entities include incumbent and competitive local exchange carriers (LECs), cable system operators, fixed wireless service providers (including “wireless ISPs”), terrestrial and satellite mobile wireless service providers, BRS providers, electric utilities, municipalities, and other entities. (Such entities do not include equipment suppliers unless the equipment supplier uses the equipment to provision a broadband connection that it offers to the public for sale. Such entities also do not include providers of fixed wireless services (e.g., “Wi-Fi” and other wireless ethernet, or wireless local area network, applications) that only enable local distribution and sharing of a premises broadband facility.)
2. Providers of Wired or Fixed Wireless Local Telephone Services: Incumbent and competitive LECs must complete and file the applicable portions of the form for each state in which they provide local exchange service to one or more end user customers (which may include “dial-up” ISPs).
3. Providers of Mobile Telephony Services: Facilities-based providers of mobile telephony services must complete and file the applicable portions of this form for each state in which they serve one or more mobile telephony subscribers. A mobile telephony service is a real-time, two-way switched voice service that is interconnected with the public switched network using an in-network switching facility that enables the provider to reuse frequencies and accomplish seamless handoff of subscriber calls. A mobile telephony service provider is considered “facilities-based” if it serves a subscriber using spectrum for which the entity holds a license that it manages, or for which it has obtained the right to use via lease or other arrangement with a Band Manager.

BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

MARCH 1: HUBB LOCATION DATA FILING AND CERTIFICATION. Carriers participating in modernized Connect America Fund (CAF) programs with defined broadband buildout obligations have until March 1 of each year to file deployment data with USAC's High Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB) portal showing where they built out mass-market, high-speed Internet service in the previous calendar year. Carriers that have no locations to upload must certify this fact in the HUBB. Affected programs include: CAF Phase II Model; Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Original A-CAM) and Revised ACAM; ACAM II; Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS); Rural Broadband Experiments (RBE); Alaska Plan (other than carriers with individualized performance plans that only require them to maintain service at existing levels); CAF Phase II Auction; and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).

Carriers with 2021 deployment milestones must also complete milestone certifications as part of the annual HUBB filing and will face verification reviews tied to those milestones. Carriers subject to defined deployment milestones must notify the FCC and USAC, and relevant state, U.S. Territory or Tribal governments if applicable, within 10 business days after the applicable deadline if they have failed to meet a milestone. Carriers that miss milestones face increased reporting obligations and potential loss of support.

BloostonLaw attorneys have successfully assisted clients in uploading and certifying their HUBB location data, as well as obtain petitions for waiver of the FCC’s rules where necessary.

BloostonLaw Contact: Sal Taillefer.

Law Offices Of Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy & Prendergast, LLP 2120 L St. NW, Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20037 (202) 659-0830 (202) 828-5568 (fax) — CONTACTS — Benjamin H. Dickens, Jr., 202-828-5510, bhd@bloostonlaw.com Gerard J. Duffy, 202-828-5528, gjd@bloostonlaw.com John A. Prendergast, 202-828-5540, jap@bloostonlaw.com Richard D. Rubino, 202-828-5519, rdr@bloostonlaw.com Mary J. Sisak, 202-828-5554, mjs@bloostonlaw.com D. Cary Mitchell, 202-828-5538, cary@bloostonlaw.com Salvatore Taillefer, Jr., 202-828-5562, sta@bloostonlaw.com This newsletter is not intended to provide legal advice. Those interested in more information should contact the firm.

Calendar At-a-Glance

January
Jan 31 – Comments on SIP Code Usage for Call Blocking are due.
Jan. 31 – Annual Hearing Aid Compatibility Report is due.
Jan. 31 – FCC Form 555 (Annual Lifeline ETC Certification Form) is due.

February
Feb. 1 – FCC Form 499-Q (Quarterly Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet) is due.
Feb. 1 – FCC Form 502 (Number Utilization and Forecast Report) is due.
Feb. 1 – Live 911 Call Data Reports from Non-Nationwide Providers are due.
Feb. 14 – Reply comments on SIP Code Usage for Call Blocking are due.
Feb. 17 – Reply comments are due on Report on the Future of USF.

March
Mar. 1 – Copyright Statement of Account Form for cable companies is due.
Mar. 1 – Annual CPNI Certification is due.
Mar. 1 – FCC Form 477 (Local Competition & Broadband Reporting) is due.
Mar. 1 – Annual HUBB Deployment Report is due.
Mar. 17 – Comments are due on Report on the Future of USF.
Mar. 31 – FCC Form 525 (Delayed Phasedown CETC Line Counts) is due.
Mar. 31 – FCC Form 508 (ICLS Projected Annual Common Line Requirement) is due.
Mar. 31 – FCC Form 507 (Universal Service Line Count – CAF BLS) is due.
Mar. 31 – COVID Lifeline waivers set to expire.

“Georgia Grind”

Tuba Skinny with Maria Muldaur

James Sterling
At The Starlight Lounge, 817 St. Louis St., New Orleans. Maria Muldaur joins the band. I had the pleasure of talking to the gracious Ms. Muldaur and discovered she is a huge Tuba Skinny fan. She has invited them to perform with her at the Danny Barker Festival later this week. (January 17, 2020)

MENSA MEMBER

If you are curious about why I joined Mensa, click here.

Brad Dye
P.O. Box 266
Fairfield, IL 62837 USA

Life is good!

I am a person in
long-term
recovery.

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E–mail: brad@braddye.com
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K9IQY

• ex KN9IQY, KN4BK, KM5NK, WB4JCF, ZP5TQ, WA4VXU, WA9RVL, /TI2, /9Y4, /6Y5, /KP4, HH2FJ
• Licensed FCC Amateur Radio operator since 1957
• Licensed FCC First-Class-Commercial Operator/Engineer since 1964