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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Owen,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Unfortunately it is true. In one of the most egregious regulatory sell-outs of the Obama administration, in August of last year the Justice Department and the FCC approved a $3.6 Billion deal between Verizon and Comcast, Time Warner and Bright house cable companies that you and I will be paying for a very long time.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The headline “deal” was for the three cable companies to sell their cellular radio frequencies (they had planned to enter the cellular business as competitors of Verizon, AT&T , etc. So for $3.6 Million , Verizon got access to additional 700 MHz frequencies that they may or may not need but more importantly, got rid of three potential competitors. That wasn’t enough for the Cable companies though (if Verizon was to get rid of potential major competitors, so should they(m so they included an agreement for the companies to “cross-sell” each other’s service.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>To no one’s surprise (except for the FCC and the DOJ, perhaps), as soon as the deal was approved, AT&T announced that they were not going to extend FiOS beyond current markets. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>So now Comcast is offering its customers Verizon wireless service at a “savings” of $5.00 per month off Verizon’s published rates for 24 months if bundled with Comcast cable service. Comcast has not announced when they are raising the Cable and/or Internet rates to make up for this $5.00 “discount”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Welcome to America<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Gary<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> 1st-mile-nm-bounces+ggomes=soundviewnet.com@mailman.dcn.org [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces+ggomes=soundviewnet.com@mailman.dcn.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Owen Densmore<br><b>Sent:</b> Friday, March 15, 2013 9:01 PM<br><b>To:</b> 1st-Mile-NM<br><b>Subject:</b> [1st-mile-nm] Verizon & Comcast/Xfinity<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>I recently called comcast/xfinity (what's the diff?) to try their broadband.</span><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>I got an unusually tech-sophisticated customer support person. After working out the installation details, I mentioned interest in Verizon FiOS. He said there was no FiOS in NM but Vzn and Comcast have a bundling agreement so that if you have both comcast and vzn services, you can get discounts.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Is this true? I haven't seen much mention of this other than vague marketing announcements over the past year.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Details? Thanks,</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> -- Owen</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><hr size=1 width="100%" noshade style='color:#A0A0A0' align=center></div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>No virus found in this message.<br>Checked by AVG - <a href="http://www.avg.com">www.avg.com</a><br>Version: 2013.0.2904 / Virus Database: 2641/6178 - Release Date: 03/15/13<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>