Hacker News with Generative AI: Telecommunications

Feds worry AT&T breach could out informants (scworld.com)
The FBI is reportedly in a panic over a possible leak of informant data thanks to an AT&T data breach.

Data Breaches, Cybersecurity, Law Enforcement, Telecommunications

8 points by LinuxBender 3 hours ago | 0 comments

FCC to telcos: By law you must secure your network from foreign spies. Get on it (theregister.com)
Decades-old legislation requiring American telcos to lock down their systems to prevent foreign snoops from intercepting communications isn't mere decoration on the pages of law books – it actually means carriers need to secure their networks, the FCC has huffed.

Telecommunications, Cybersecurity, Government Regulation, Law, Foreign Intelligence

8 points by rntn 4 hours ago | 1 comments

AT&T kills home Internet service in NY over law requiring $15 or $20 plans (arstechnica.com)
AT&T has stopped offering its 5G home Internet service in New York instead of complying with a new state law that requires ISPs to offer $15 or $20 plans to people with low incomes.

Telecommunications, New York, Legislation, Business

13 points by pseudolus 1 day ago | 3 comments

Nevermind Chinese spies: US Air Force picks Verizon for 35 base network upgrades (theregister.com)
Never mind that whole Salt Typhoon hiccup - Verizon's reputation hit hasn't stopped it from securing a deal to upgrade the networks on 35 US Air Force bases with new 4G and 5G kit.

Military, Technology, Telecommunications

5 points by rntn 10 days ago | 0 comments

SrsRAN: Open-Source 4G/5G (github.com/srsran)
The srsRAN software suite is an open-source collection of 4G and 5G software radio applications from SRS.

Open Source, 4G, 5G, Telecommunications, Software

195 points by gballan 12 days ago | 65 comments

5G NR-U: Bringing the power of 5G to unlicensed spectrum globally (qualcomm.com)

5G, Mobile Networks, Spectrum, Technology, Telecommunications

28 points by ksec 15 days ago | 24 comments

Net Neutrality Rules Struck Down by Appeals Court (nytimes.com)
A federal appeals court struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s landmark net neutrality rules on Thursday, ending a nearly two-decade effort to regulate broadband internet providers like utilities.

Net Neutrality, Law, Telecommunications, Internet

50 points by jbegley 15 days ago | 5 comments

Pink Floyd's Young Lust telephone signalling explained (telephoneworld.org)
Pink Floyd’s Young Lust has been a staple of rock radio for over 40 years. But many people are mystified about the section at the end when a “Mr. Floyd” in the United States attempts to make a collect call to “Mrs. Floyd” in England.

Music, History, Telecommunications

10 points by fanf2 16 days ago | 2 comments

More telcos confirm Salt Typhoon breaches as White House weighs in (theregister.com)
AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen Technologies confirmed that Chinese government-backed snoops accessed portions of their systems earlier this year, while the White House added another, yet-unnamed telecommunications company to the list of those breached by Salt Typhoon.

Cybersecurity, Telecommunications, China, Government

413 points by rntn 18 days ago | 354 comments

ComCom orders: Swisscom must operate zero-settlement peering with Init7 [pdf] (init7.net)

Switzerland, Telecommunications, Regulation, Peering, Networking

10 points by sschueller 25 days ago | 0 comments

AT&T Hits Texas Man with $6k Bill for Using 3GB of Data (pcmag.com)
An AT&T customer in Texas claims they were hit with a $6,223.60 wireless bill for the month of November because of a pay-as-you-go data charge.

Data Overages, Telecommunications, Consumer Issues, Texas

8 points by thunderbong 30 days ago | 0 comments

AT&T user's erroneous $6,223 bill is reminder that AutoPay can wipe you out (phonearena.com)
It's not unusual for monthly bills to go up and down but if your bill explodes one month for no reason at all, your best bet is to contact the relevant company and hope for the best, as one AT&T customer has learned.

Billing Errors, AutoPay, Telecommunications

29 points by speckx 32 days ago | 14 comments

AT&T, Verizon Fail to Inform Customers About Major Salt Typhoon Hack (techdirt.com)
For the better part of the last thirty years, telecom giants and “free market” libertarian think tanks have told anybody who’d listen that gutting regulatory oversight of the U.S. wireless and broadband markets would result in near-Utopian outcomes across innovation and competition.

Cybersecurity, Telecommunications, Regulation, Privacy

4 points by speckx 32 days ago | 0 comments

T-Mobile users can try Starlink-enabled phone service for free during beta (arstechnica.com)
T-Mobile today said it opened registration for the "T-Mobile Starlink" beta service that will enable text messaging via satellites in dead zones not covered by cell towers.

Mobile Networks, Satellite Technology, Beta Testing, Telecommunications

5 points by mfiguiere 32 days ago | 3 comments

Sci-fi inspired antenna adjusts to signal needs (ieee.org)
An antenna’s shape determines what kind of signals it can work with. So key aspects of its operations are in fact already locked in at manufacturing. However, a new shape-shifting antenna could dynamically adapt to different communications requirements allowing it to do the work of multiple fixed antennas.

Antennas, Telecommunications, Science, Innovation, Engineering

54 points by rbanffy 33 days ago | 8 comments

Microsoft kills off Skype credits and phone numbers in favor of subscriptions (theverge.com)
Microsoft has quietly ended the sale of new credits and phone number features for Skype this week.

Microsoft, Skype, Telecommunications, Business, Subscriptions

5 points by johnshades 36 days ago | 0 comments

AT&T won't upgrade millions of DSL users to fiber despite billions in subsidies (techdirt.com)
Four years years ago AT&T, a company that, for years, cheapened out on upgrading its broadband lines to fiber, effectively stopped selling DSL. While that’s understandable given the limitations of the dated copper-based tech, the problem is that thanks to concentrated telecom monopolization, many of these customers were left without any replacement options due to a lack of competition.

Telecommunications, Internet Access, Consumer Advocacy, Technology, Business

108 points by hn_acker 36 days ago | 92 comments

2400 phone providers may be shut down by the FCC for failing to stop robocalls (docs.fcc.gov)

Telecommunications, Regulation, Law Enforcement, Robocalls

518 points by impish9208 37 days ago | 309 comments

Skype Credit is no longer available (skype.com)

Skype, Telecommunications, Online Services

28 points by tlyleung 40 days ago | 71 comments

America's Phone Networks Could Soon Face Penalties for Insecure (slashdot.org)

Security, Telecommunications, Technology, Regulation, United States

6 points by rolph 40 days ago | 0 comments

Starlink's first constellation of direct-to-phone satellites is now in orbit (newatlas.com)
SpaceX has launched 20 of its Starlink satellites up into Earth's orbit, enabling direct-to-cellphone connectivity for subscribers anywhere on the planet.

Space Exploration, Satellite Technology, Telecommunications, SpaceX

119 points by Brajeshwar 42 days ago | 109 comments

AT&T says it won't build fiber home Internet in half of its wireline footprint (arstechnica.com)
AT&T this week detailed plans to eliminate copper phone and DSL lines from its network while leaving many customers in rural areas with only wireless or satellite as an alternative.

Telecommunications, Rural Access, Internet, AT&T

30 points by LorenDB 43 days ago | 26 comments

Worst US hack in history: Chinese can monitor all your calls and emails (tuta.com)
The United States is grappling with what is being described as the worst telecommunications hack in US history, attributed to state-sponsored Chinese attackers Salt Typhoon.

Cybersecurity, China, Telecommunications, Hacking

22 points by donohoe 44 days ago | 6 comments

Spies jumped from one telco to another in a way 'I've not seen in my career' (theregister.com)
While Chinese-government-backed spies maintained access to US telecommunications providers' networks for months – and in some cases still haven't been booted out – T-Mobile US thwarted successful attacks on its systems "within a single-digit number of days," according to the carrier's security boss Jeff Simon.

Cybersecurity, Telecommunications, China, Espionage

6 points by LinuxBender 44 days ago | 0 comments

FBI tells telecom firms to boost security following Chinese hacking campaign (apnews.com)
Federal authorities on Tuesday urged telecommunication companies to boost network security following a sprawling Chinese hacking campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans.

Cybersecurity, Government, China, Telecommunications

17 points by voisin 44 days ago | 9 comments

Meta plans to build a $10B subsea cable spanning the world, sources say (techcrunch.com)
Meta, the parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is the second-biggest driver of internet usage globally. Its properties — and their billions of users — account for 10% of all fixed and 22% of all mobile traffic. Meta’s investments into artificial intelligence stand to boost that usage even further. So to make sure it will have reliable infrastructure to support that business, Meta is taking the pipes into its own hands.

Meta, Infrastructure, Internet, Telecommunications, Business

12 points by ksec 49 days ago | 2 comments

The Influence of Bell Labs (construction-physics.com)
We’ve talked previously about Bell Labs’ long, storied history as an innovation engine and a generator of new technology. For decades, it spun off new major inventions and scientific discoveries as part of its mandate to help build AT&T’s telephone network.

History, Technology, Telecommunications

231 points by mooreds 49 days ago | 134 comments

Finland, Sweden complete repairs on Baltic Sea cables (yle.fi)
Repair work on a broken telecommunications cable linking Finland and Germany in the Baltic Sea is complete and is functioning again, according to Cinia, a Finnish state majority-owned company.

Finland, Sweden, Telecommunications, Baltic Sea, Infrastructure

83 points by Hamuko 50 days ago | 111 comments

FCC approves Starlink plan for cellular phone service, with some limits (arstechnica.com)
Starlink yesterday obtained federal approval to provide service to cell phones, with some limits.

Telecommunications, Space Exploration, Government Regulation, Mobile Devices

11 points by pseudolus 51 days ago | 0 comments

Salt Typhoon's surge extends far beyond US telcos (theregister.com)
The reach of the China-linked Salt Typhoon gang extends beyond telecommunications giants in the United States, and its arsenal includes several backdoors – including a brand-new malware dubbed GhostSpider – according to Trend Micro researchers.

Cybersecurity, Malware, China, Telecommunications, Research

4 points by romperstomper 51 days ago | 0 comments