• Verizon: You can have unlimited data... just no device subsidies [cnet.com]
• Netflix to Comcast: Raising the cap is not enough [gigaom.com]
• Verizon ends standalone DSL service, requires landline bundle [CNN Money]
• T-Mobile’s no-contract data plans get lower per GB pricing [gigaom.com]
• Clearwire CTO: We'll offer VoLTE when we launch TD-LTE network [fiercewireless.com]
• Dish says FCC timeline for wireless network unrealistic [yahoo.com]
• AT&T lights up 4G LTE in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Chicago; Network now available in 38 cities, AT&T promises more LTE implementations by summer [networkworld.com]
• Verizon Clarifies: Unlimited Data Plans to Die Slow Death [nytimes.com]
• MetroPCS Mulls Unlocked LTE iPhone [wirelessweek.com]
• Should You Upgrade to an 802.11ac Router? [maclife.com]
• Seeing ads on Wikipedia? Then you're infected [theregister.co.uk]

You might recall that Netflix went through a stretch last summer when a lot of analysts proclaimed the company was imploding. The dire prognostications were caused by the company's bumbled and scrapped attempt to split off their DVD business (remember Qwickster?), compounded by a number of rather significant price hikes. You'll recall a lot of customers screamed about the hikes proclaiming they were leaving the service -- and while some did -- Netflix says they're now coming back. While there's no doubt the PR hit was massive, the company says about a third of added subscribers last quarter were customers who are returning to the service. Netflix added 3 million streaming subscribers in the first quarter for a total of 26 million global streaming accounts.

After years of complaints from users who claimed they were being booted from the Comcast network for excessive use (without Comcast saying what they deemed "excessive") Comcast in 2008 implemented a 250 gigabyte usage cap for all of the company's residential service tiers. Comcast today posted a statement to the company's Comcast Voices blog stating that the company will be eliminating their universal 250 GB usage cap, instead replacing it with "improved data management approaches." What are those changes going to be? Overage fees.

Speaking to Congress this week, FCC Boss Julius Genachowski stated that the agency hasn't received a single net neutrality complaint since the FCC's neutrality rules went into effect late last year. Part of that is because the rules don't do very much, failing to cover wireless in any meaningful way, while allowing pretty much any network behavior so long as it can be defended as an action that's necessary to protect network integrity.

In addition to announcing new shared data plans and the death of unlimited wireless, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo this week also announced that FiOS customers can expect a new slate of price hikes soon. Speaking at the JP Morgan investor conference this week, Shammo stated that the service's high rankings of late (FiOS recently came out tops in both Consumer Reports and ACSI rankings) means that the company feels it can charge a premium for the service, and start doing away with some of the more aggressive pricing promotions:

Researchers in Japan have smashed the record for wireless data transmission in the terahertz band, showing the ability to transmit speeds up to 3Gb at frequencies up to 542GHz. The researchers used the terahertz, or "T-ray," region of the electromagnetic spectrum between 300 GHz and 3 THz. Previously, this spectrum was used primarily in medical imaging due to its ability to cause less damage, and wireless transmission hadn't been utilized because the equipment to do so would have been too large, too expensive, and too power hungry. Early distance constraints are significant (about 10 meters) and there's no word on when this could evolve into a viable commercial product. The full research results are here, for those who would like to dig into the nitty gritty details of the record-breaking effort.

Hughes says that the company's new EchoStar XVII satellite has arrived at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, where it will be launched aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle by Arianespace. If the current schedule holds, the satellite should be launched on June 19 -- and made available for consumer use later this year.

Back in February ViaSat announced they were phasing out the WildBlue brand to focus on their Exede satellite broadband service, and DirecTV announced they'd no longer be selling WildBlue. A few months later and it's not too surprising to see DirecTV announce that they'll be offering broadband service bundles through both Hughes and ViaSat. "“With greatly improved capacity and speeds, satellite broadband services provided by ViaSat and Hughes will fully support our customers’ connected home experience, enabling them to access a host of features like YouTube, Pandora, social TV apps, and more than 7,000 VOD titles," insists the company in a press release that's woefully absent of pricing or launch window details. Both ViaSat and HughesNet are offering (or will soon offer) faster speeds made possible by the launches of new Ka-band satellites.

• WiMAX vs. LTE: Should You Switch? [ecoustics.com]
• The Rise of Europe's Private Internet Police [foreignpolicy.com]
• Verizon plans price hikes for Fios, wireless users [cnet.com]
• FCC Wants Clarity From Verizon on Proposed Spectrum Deals [nytimes.com]
• Dear Executives, Technological Ignorance Is No Longer Acceptable [nyciso.com]
• Say hello to the real real-time Web [arstechnica.com]
• DNS Changer ‘blackouts’ inevitable? [theregister.co.uk]
• UK police use 'quick' mobile data extraction system against suspects [computerworlduk.com]
• Startup says there are no problems with recording locations of millions of smartphones (unless their owners opt out) [cnet.com]
• Near Field Communications: More Than Mobile Payments [forbes.com]
• Why Deep Packet Inspection Falls Short [cable360.net]
• Apple gets green light to seek Samsung tablet ban in U.S. [cnet.com]
• Self-adapting computer network to defend itself against hackers [computerworld.com]

• FCC Chairman to Senate: No Network Neutrality Complaints [multichannel.com]
• Netflix: Disgruntled customers rejoining service [cnet.com]
• House Republicans Continue to Question Broadband Grants [nationaljournal.com]
• Japanese scientists develop 20x faster WiFi [techspot.com]
• Sprint: Mergers on Back Burner, Not Off the Table [wirelessweek.com]
• EchoStar XVII will be used to provide HughesNet Gen4 high-speed Internet service in North America [spacemart.com]
• Comcast Flips On Skype TV [lightreading.com]
• Mobile Data could place operators under extreme financial pressure unless they implement ways to provide bandwidth more cost-efficiently [fiercewireless.com]
• Smartphone security is heading for 'apocalypse' [networkworld.com]
• Google to Sell Nexus Smartphones and Tablets Direct [pcworld.com]
• Apple Fires Back in Lawsuit over Siri’s Performance [wsj.com]
• NTIA Defends Stand-Down of Public Safety Net Projects;Doesn't Want to Spend $380 Million on Efforts That Might Be Superseded [multichannel.com]

Since last year Comcast has been testing an implementation of Skype to be embedded in the company's Xfinity set top boxes using a high-definition camera. Comcast today announced that the company has finally started the nationwide deployment of the service beginning today in Boston and Seattle, with Atlanta, Augusta, Ga., Chicago, Detroit, Harrisburg, Pa., Indianapolis, Miami and Pittsburgh slated for launch before the end of the week.

According to Comcast's new website for the service, Skype for Xfinity will cost users $10 extra a month -- but only if you subscribe to the Comcast triple play of Digital Starter TV (or above) with HD service, Performance Internet (or above) and Unlimited Voice service. The service comes as a self-installation kit, pictured below:

Back in 2010, following in lock step on the heels of AT&T, Verizon imposed cap and overage pricing on wireless data, eliminated their unlimited data plans for smartphones but "grandfathered" existing unlimited users. Speaking on a recent investor webcast, Verizon Wireless CFO Fran Shammo unsurprisingly stated that as those customers switch to LTE, they're going to be forced to give up their unlimited data plans.

While Google's Nexus One phone was supposed to rattle the wireless status quo by offering users unsubsidized phones via a Google store, the promised revolution never arrived. That was due to a number of factors, including the fact that the phone came with 3G bugs and annoying fees -- but not with phone support (Google fixed the latter two eventually).

Just when the network neutrality debate appeared to have resigned itself to a dark corner, the revelation that Comcast was exempting Comcast TV content over Xbox 360 traffic from its bandwidth cap rekindled the entire debate. Comcast claims they're simply treating the Xbox 360 as other set top, while competitors like Netflix claim it gives them an unfair advantage in streaming video offerings.

Users in our security forums direct our attention to the fact that users of any of the paid versions of Avira's various antivirus and security programs are now dealing with crippled PCs after an update went terribly awry yesterday. The latest update to the software's AntiVirProActiv component -- not included in the free version -- identified critical Windows processes as malware and automatically terminated them.

Fierce Telecom has provided a break down of the highest paid executives in the cable and satellite, telco landline, and wireless markets. Apple's Tim Cook and his $377,996,537 in 2011 compensation aside, the usual folks are about where you'd expect them to be, with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts taking the top spot with $26.9 million in 2011 annual compensation. He's followed by the other usual names in telecom including Verizon's Lowell McAdam ($23.1 million), AT&T's Randall Stephenson ($22.01 million), Charter's Michael Lovett ($20.54 million) and Time Warner Cable's Glenn Britt ($16.43 million).

Not too concerned with the growing consumer advocate opposition to these deals or the fact that they haven't been approved by regulators yet, Verizon and the cable industry continue to expand their co-marketing relationship. Comcast and Verizon now co-market their products in a half a dozen markets, and in early April Time Warner Cable started bundling Verizon services in Kansas City, Raleigh, Cincinnati, and Columbus. Now Cox is getting into the action, joining forces with Verizon in Oklahoma to joint-market and bundle their services in competition against AT&T U-Verse. As it stands, these bundles simply involve unified billing and a gift card, but the companies say it will expand to involve unified video and other services across both landline and wireless networks.

• Verizon in $63 Billion Faceoff With AT&T Over Family Plans [bloomberg.com]
• Comcast Denies It's Prioritizing Xbox Video [lightreading.com]
• Ofcom to Publish UK ISP Internet Piracy Initial Obligations Code in June [ispreview.co.uk]
• Telcos see BYOD demand growing 25% this year [totaltele.com]
• Judge dismisses piracy suits, says IP address doesn't confirm state [cnet.com]
• Admitted file-swapper begs Supreme Court for help, says RIAA sought huge damages to create an "urban legend." [arstechnica.com]
• Billing Error and Fraud could cost Operators nearly $300bn annually by 2016 [juniperresearch.com]
• Are some people addicted to having WiFi access? [neowin.net]
• US judge sentences two to prison over $4.4m VoIP fraud [totaltele.com]

• TV Network Execs Contemplate Going To Court To Say Skipping Commercials Is Illegal [techdirt.com]
• Meet the New US Wireless Operators [lightreading.com]
• Is Comcast prioritizing traffic or not? [gigaom.com]
• Genachowski to Focus On Broadband In Senate Testimony [broadcastingcable.com]
• Verizon LTE expansion continues with 28 more cities [networkworld.com]
• AT&T, U.S. Cellular buying 700 MHz licenses for LTE [fiercewireless.com]
• Sprint planning Direct Connect Android app, promises PTT 'renaissance' [fiercewireless.com]
• Leap to expand LTE coverage to up to 65M POPs by 2014 [fiercewireless.com]
• Android continues to conquer the world [cnet.com]
• Avira Antivirus update cripples millions of Windows PCs [zdnet.com]
• How Yahoo killed Flickr and lost the Internet [gizmodo.com]
• Virgin latest airline to try allowing calls and texting on transatlantic flights [cable360.net]

Speaking at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference this week, Leap CEO Doug Hutcheson says the company plans to expand its LTE network coverage from 20-25 million POPs (potential subscribers) by the end of this year to 60-65 million POPs by the end of 2013 or early 2014. Leap says the company expects to have enough spectrum for LTE over the next three years. In 2010 Leap signed off on an MVNO deal with Sprint, and earlier this year struck a new five-year wholesale deal with Clearwire allowing Leap to buy capacity on Clearwire's upcoming LTE network. Rumors recently indicated Leap has been in talks with AT&T about a possible acquisition, though incompatible network technology make the deal anything but certain.