Hacker News with Generative AI: Telecommunications

Hacking the call records of millions of Americans (evanconnelly.github.io)
Imagine if anyone could punch in a phone number from the largest U.S. cell carrier and instantly retrieve a list of its recent incoming calls—complete with timestamps—without compromising the device, guessing a password, or alerting the user.
Privacy, Cybersecurity, Data Breaches, Telecommunications
143 points by voxadam 1 day ago | 30 comments
Why 5G Is an Expensive Flop (bloomberg.com)
Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent upgrading the world’s wireless networks to fifth-generation technologies. 5G’s early advocates said it would “change the way we live, work and play forever.” Have you noticed? 
5G, Technology, Telecommunications, Business, Economics
7 points by helsinkiandrew 5 days ago | 1 comments
Revolving Door: Ex FCC Boss Ajit Pai Promoted to Top Wireless Industry Lobbyist (techdirt.com)
You probably recall Ajit Pai, Trump’s first FCC boss. Pai took a mindless hatchet to broadband consumer protection and media consolidation limits with no shortage of scandal. Like that time he turned a blind eye as the telecom industry used dead and fake people to generate fake support for shitty policies (like killing net neutrality). Or that time he made up a DDOS attack on the FCC to downplay massive public backlash to those same, unpopular policies.
Telecommunications, Politics, Media, Regulation, Net Neutrality
65 points by WarOnPrivacy 7 days ago | 8 comments
FCC chairman Brendan Carr starts granting telecom lobby's wish list (arstechnica.com)
The Federal Communications Commission is making it easier for telcos to turn off old copper phone and DSL networks with four changes that relax requirements related to copper shutoffs.
Telecommunications, FCC, Regulation, Technology, Politics
11 points by PaulHoule 8 days ago | 0 comments
Supreme Court takes up $8B phone and internet subsidy for rural areas (apnews.com)
The Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday in a major legal fight over the $8 billion a year the federal government spends to subsidize phone and internet services in schools, libraries and rural areas, in a new test of federal regulatory power.
Law, Telecommunications, Government, Rural Development
36 points by voxadam 8 days ago | 69 comments
FCC chairman Brendan Carr starts granting telecom lobby's wish list (arstechnica.com)
The Federal Communications Commission is making it easier for telcos to turn off old copper phone and DSL networks with four changes that relax requirements related to copper shutoffs.
Telecommunications, FCC, Regulation, Technology, Lobbying
11 points by LinuxBender 14 days ago | 0 comments
Trump plan to fund Musk's Starlink over fiber called "betrayal" of rural US (arstechnica.com)
A federal broadband official departed the US government with a warning that a Trump administration plan will strand rural Americans with worse Internet access in order to help Elon Musk secure public money for Starlink.
Politics, Telecommunications, Rural America, Elon Musk, Space Exploration
26 points by throw0101a 17 days ago | 10 comments
FCC stands up Council on National Security to fight China – like CISA used to (theregister.com)
United States Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr has unveiled plans to form a Council on National Security that will combat foreign threats to American tech and telecommunications infrastructure.
National Security, Cybersecurity, Telecommunications, China, United States
5 points by mikece 18 days ago | 0 comments
FCC Chairman Carr Launches Deregulation Initiative (docs.fcc.gov)
Government, Regulation, Telecommunications
29 points by impish9208 21 days ago | 15 comments
Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) Overview (3gpp.org)
Non-terrestrial networks (NTN) are networks or segments of networks that use either Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) operating typically between 8 and 50km altitudes, including High Altitude Platforms (HAPs) or satellites in different constellations to carry a transmission equipment relay node or a base station:
Telecommunications, Networks, Satellites, 5G
3 points by teleforce 22 days ago | 0 comments
UK Greenlights Amazon Kuiper, Starlink Faces New Rival (ieee.org)
Last month, Ofcom, the United Kingdom’s telecom regulator, granted Amazon’s Kuiper Systems a license to provide low-Earth orbit-based (LEO) broadband Internet in the country.
Space, Internet, Technology, Telecommunications, Competition
10 points by sohkamyung 24 days ago | 1 comments
Carlos Slim cancels Starlink orders (cleantechnica.com)
Billionaire Carlos Slim Cancels $22 Billion in Starlink Orders Due to Elon Musk’s Outburst
Space Exploration, Business, Telecommunications
84 points by truegoric 24 days ago | 66 comments
SpaceX Urges FCC to Block Globalstar's Cellular Satellite Plans (msn.com)
SpaceX is lobbying the FCC to block iPhone satellite provider Globalstar from launching a new constellation of 48 low-Earth orbiting satellites.
Space, Telecommunications, Satellite, Competition, FCC
15 points by smugma 25 days ago | 6 comments
Why most countries are struggling to shut down 2G (restofworld.org)
Telecom companies aim to profit from the 2G-to-5G transition as governments worldwide face pressure to free up mobile spectrum.
Telecommunications, Technology, Government Policy, Mobile Spectrum
42 points by theaienthusiast 27 days ago | 20 comments
NTT Com says hackers accessed details of almost 18,000 organizations (techcrunch.com)
Japanese telecom giant NTT Communications (NTT Com) has confirmed that hackers accessed the data of almost 18,000 corporate customers during a February cyberattack, affecting an as-yet-unknown number of individuals.
Cybersecurity, Data Breaches, Japan, Telecommunications, Corporate Security
3 points by hassanahmad 27 days ago | 0 comments
4G LTE: One Standard to Rule Them All [video] (youtube.com)
4G, LTE, Mobile Technology, Telecommunications, Video
5 points by ksec 28 days ago | 0 comments
56k modems relied on digital trunk lines (hackaday.com)
If you came of age in the 1990s, you’ll remember the unmistakable auditory handshake of an analog modem negotiating its connection via the plain old telephone system. That cacophony of screeches and hisses was the result of careful engineering. They allowed digital data to travel down phone lines that were only ever built to carry audio—and pretty crummy audio, at that.
Telecommunications, History, Technology, Engineering
180 points by beardyw 28 days ago | 137 comments
Mexican Billionaire Slim Cuts Ties with Starlink, Costing Musk $7B After Tweet (msn.com)
Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has officially severed ties with Elon Musk’s Starlink, opting to invest in his own telecommunications infrastructure rather than relying on Musk’s satellite technology.
Business, Technology, Telecommunications, Elon Musk
19 points by choult 28 days ago | 12 comments
Altnets told to stop digging and start stuffing fiber through abandoned pipes (theregister.com)
Network operators laying fiber infrastructure could cut their costs by taking advantage of "thousands of miles" of abandoned infrastructure, including gas and water pipes, according to a firm that tracks such things.
Networking, Infrastructure, Cost Reduction, Technology, Telecommunications
5 points by rntn 32 days ago | 1 comments
Ask HN: Why there's no email address portability like with phone numbers? (ycombinator.com)
Phone number portability has been standard worldwide for years, allowing us to switch carriers while keeping our numbers. Yet email addresses, which have become more important than phone numbers over the last 20 years or so, lack any similar portability mechanism.
Technology, Internet, Email, Telecommunications
9 points by pllbnk 32 days ago | 31 comments
FAA Officials Ordered Staff to Find Funding for Elon Musk's Starlink (rollingstone.com)
Elon Musk’s satellite business Starlink may not have officially taken over Verizon’s $2.4 billion contract with the Federal Aviation Administration yet to upgrade the systems it uses to manage America’s airspace. However, on Friday, FAA officials ordered staff to begin finding tens of millions of dollars for a Starlink deal, according to a source with knowledge of the FAA and two people briefed on the situation.
Space Exploration, Government Contracts, Telecommunications
19 points by hiddencost 32 days ago | 1 comments
Starlink to take over $2.4B contract to overhaul air traffic control comms (theverge.com)
While Elon Musk hacks away at the federal bureaucracy in the name of “efficiency,” his company Starlink appears poised to steal a multibillion-dollar government contract from Verizon.
Space Exploration, Telecommunications, Government Contracts
138 points by bdcravens 35 days ago | 170 comments
Musk Takes $2.4B Contract from Verizon to Give It to Starlink (jalopnik.com)
News broke that the FAA had awarded a huge contract to Starlink earlier this week and–considering Elon Musk's current role–that set off plenty of alarm bells for anyone who thinks corruption is bad, especially since the government already had a contract with Verizon. As it turns out, that new Starlink contract is actually worth $2.4 billion, the Washington Post reports.
Space Exploration, Telecommunications, Government Contracts
41 points by drawkward 35 days ago | 19 comments
Doc NTIA lead nominee criticizes "woke" and "socialist" fiber broadband subsidy (broadbandbreakfast.com)
President Donald Trump on Monday nominated Arielle Roth, telecom director for Senate Commerce Committee chairman Ted Cruz, to lead the Commerce Department’s telecommunications agency.
Telecommunications, Politics, Government, Broadband
42 points by walrus01 35 days ago | 71 comments
Verizon could lose FAA contract to Elon Musk's Starlink – report (seekingalpha.com)
Seeking Alpha - Power to Investors
Space Exploration, Technology, Telecommunications, Business, Competition
9 points by srameshc 35 days ago | 0 comments
Starlink poised to take over $2.4B contract to overhaul ATC communication (theverge.com)
While Elon Musk hacks away at the federal bureaucracy in the name of “efficiency,” his company Starlink appears poised to steal a multibillion-dollar government contract from Verizon.
Space Exploration, Technology, Government Contracts, Telecommunications
10 points by achristmascarl 35 days ago | 1 comments
Supreme Court rejects ISPs again in latest bid to kill NY's $15 broadband law (arstechnica.com)
The Supreme Court has once again rejected a telecom industry challenge to New York's $15 broadband law.
Law, Telecommunications, New York, Supreme Court
10 points by duxup 37 days ago | 1 comments
Carlos Slim breaks deals with Starlink after Musk links Slim to drug trafficking (macronews.mx)
América Móvil invertirá en su propia infraestructura y descarta colaboración con SpaceX
Telecommunications, SpaceX, Elon Musk, Mexico, Carlos Slim
14 points by CharlesW 38 days ago | 0 comments
Subsea fibre optic cable deliberately cut for the 2nd time between N.S. and N.L (cbc.ca)
Telecommunications giant Bell is exploring surveillance options in the Gulf of St. Lawrence after one of its subsea fibre optic cables between Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland's west coast was recently severed for the second time.
Telecommunications, Canada, Security, Infrastructure
32 points by awnird 43 days ago | 2 comments
Meta plans to link US and India with longest undersea cable project (theguardian.com)
Meta has announced plans to build the world’s longest underwater cable project, which aims to connect the US, India, South Africa, Brazil and other regions.
Meta, Undersea Cable, Infrastructure, Telecommunications, International Relations
26 points by Brajeshwar 45 days ago | 3 comments