Data from a “preliminary” study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) shows interconnection is only one of “numerous reasons a broadband user could have a frustrating experience with their broadband,” said Doug Brake, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation telecom policy analyst, in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1ijT3X7). The MIT/UCSD study, released last week, showed congestion on the Internet doesn’t appear to be widespread and is mostly confined to issues like Netflix’s streaming latency (CD June 19 p9). Blaming network congestion on ISPs, as Netflix has, “is not at all supported by recent data collected by the FCC that shows ISPs deliver, on average, 101 percent of advertised speeds,” Brake said.

The FCC Wireline Bureau Connect America Cost Model order provides too much support to price-cap LEC territories, said the American Cable Association in an application for review (http://bit.ly/1jJQCI3) posted Monday in docket 10-90. The order is “erroneous” because it presumes too high a cost and too low of a “take-rate” -- revenue from users -- in calculating the funding, ACA said. The commission should have instead used figures suggested by ACA, the group said. It said that would let support be provided “more efficiently, enabling many more unserved locations to be supported in the Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II."

The FCC urged the Supreme Court to deny a petition for writ of certiorari to a plaintiff who alleged that Clear Channel violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit “correctly determined that the FCC’s use and explication of its TCPA exemption authority is entitled to deference,” the commission said in a brief in opposition (http://bit.ly/1szMaVW). “Further review is not warranted.” The FCC said a phone call from a TV or radio station whose purpose “is merely to invite a consumer to listen to or view a broadcast is not a telephone solicitation within the TCPA restrictions.” The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the complaint, and plaintiff Mark Leyse challenged the FCC rule in his petition, said the agency.

The FCC Wireline Bureau made some changes on local number portability (LNP), as recommended by the North American Numbering Council, while declining to approve a NANC preference involving states and changes to area codes. The bureau didn’t make any changes related to LNP administrator, which is the subject of a separate public notice after the NANC recommended a unit of Ericsson be the next LNP administrator, a job now held by Neustar. (See separate report in this issue.) LNP “provisioning flows” to improve the phone number porting process will be improved via changes to canceling a number port request, stopping new service providers from prematurely activating ports and other clarifications, said a bureau order released in Monday’s FCC Daily Digest (http://bit.ly/V6bFQ4). “Notwithstanding” the NANC’s “preference for area code overlays over area code splits,” the order said it clarified that “states still have the option to choose the best means of implementing area code relief for their citizens.”

The FCC Wireline Bureau seeks comment on Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) annual reports, it said in a public notice in docket 02-60 Thursday about increasing broadband use for providing such medical care (http://bit.ly/1qyAZus). In an accompanying order, the bureau waived the annual reporting requirements for rural healthcare pilot program and HCF consortium leads for funding year 2013. The bureau asked how it should structure those reports for funding year 2014 and beyond. Comments will be due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

U.S. schools need 100 Mbps or more of Internet access today, and 1 Gbps by 2017, dozens of CEOs and heads of educational technology companies said in a letter sent to the FCC chairman and every commissioner posted Thursday in docket 13-184 (http://bit.ly/1uH5gVG). A revamped E-rate program would focus on broadband connectivity and infrastructure, invest in more upgrades to connect every school to fiber and every classroom to Wi-Fi, and improve broadband affordability by maximizing competition, the letter said. A revamp should also increase transparency and accountability to reduce costs by releasing more data on existing network infrastructure and the price paid by schools for E-rate services, the letter said. “Nowhere is the opportunity so vast, the need so urgent, and the policy so vital for advancing a brighter, more connected educational future.” Commissioner Ajit Pai said Wednesday he won’t vote to approve any E-rate revamp that increases its budget (CD June 19 p1). The CEOs writing the FCC were from Channel One, Girls Who Code, Kickboard and other entities.

Net neutrality rules won’t be effective if broadband ISPs “can simply shift blocking, degradation and discrimination upstream to where the broadband access providers interconnect with the rest of the networks that constitute the global Internet,” Netflix executives told FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet and other agency officials Monday, said an ex parte filing in docket 14-28 (http://bit.ly/1pjLDS8). Netflix said it supports FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s initiative to bring greater transparency to the issue of interconnection congestion (CD June 16 p1). “Strong net neutrality” will ensure broadband ISPs don’t use their “gatekeeper power” to prevent consumers from “using the online services they want and have paid for,” Netflix said.

Neustar objects to an FCC “second level protection order” in the Local Number Portability Administrator vendor context, it told Wireline Bureau and Office of General Counsel officials Monday, said an ex parte filing posted in docket 09-109 Thursday (http://bit.ly/1qwx3dG). That order assumes the “most important documents and information in the record” are “highly confidential,” and places the burden of proof on parties who wish the information to be made public, said the company. “Full transparency is required to produce the kind of record that will support notice and comment rulemaking, which is required in this proceeding.” The FCC is seeking comment on an advisory group’s recommendation that Telcordia get the LNPA vendor job, a contract Neustar has that’s up for renewal (CD June 11 p16).

If the FCC increases from 4 Mbps to 10 Mbps the minimum broadband speeds for recipients of high-cost USF funds, 4.7 million locations would be eligible for support, said the Wireline Bureau in a public notice Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1sogvXp). That’s an increase from the 4.25 million locations eligible under the lower speed threshold, the bureau said. Some 3.6 million locations would count as “unserved” by 10 Mbps/768 kbps, compared with 2.7 million unserved by 3 Mbps/768 kbps, it said. The results were produced using version 4.1.1 of the Connect America Cost Model. Detailed results and a list of eligible census blocks are at http://fcc.us/18RrTfQ. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has circulated a notice of inquiry asking about increasing the minimum download speeds to 10 Mbps, for purposes of determining whether ISP services are broadband (CD June 4 p1).

Inmate calling services (ICS) data will be due July 17, the FCC said Tuesday in a public notice in docket 12-375 (http://bit.ly/1r33IFr). A template form and related instructions for ICS providers are available at http://fcc.us/1r33SMZ, the notice said. The Office of Management and Budget approved the FCC’s one-time mandatory data collection of inmate calling rates June 2 (CD June 13 p11).