telephone

A lawmaker is bringing the issue of net neutrality back into the spotlight. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) plans to introduce a bill in January that would stop Internet service providers from blocking and managing certain Internet content.

When Debra and Lee Sherbeyn first moved to rural Virginia 14 years ago, they didn't own a computer, much less fret over access to the Web. It wasn't long before they had a machine and were logging onto the Internet using a dial-up modem. The arrangement suited them fine until family members started sending pictures by e-mail. It became downright untenable in 2004 when Lee entered the real estate business in their home in Bealeton, Va., about 58 miles southwest of Washington. "You can't wait all day for a picture of a house to download," Debra says.

A hacker broke into a federal Homeland Security Department telephone system during the weekend and racked up about $12,000 in calls to the Middle East and Asia.

The hacker made more than 400 calls on a Federal Emergency Management Agency voice-mail system Saturday and Sunday, according to FEMA spokesman Tom Olshanski. FEMA is the principal government agency for helping victims of natural disasters.

The agency is part of Homeland Security, which in 2003 put out a warning about such a vulnerability.

Congress has asked Embarq Corp. about its work with a company that tracks online subscribers' Web traffic for advertising purposes, part of growing concern about Internet privacy.

Overland Park, Kan.-based Embarq is the nation's fourth-largest traditional telephone company with 1.34 million high-speed Internet subscribers in 14 states. It has been linked in the past with NebuAd Inc., a company that works with Internet service providers to tailor targeted ads based on what Web sites a particular subscriber visits.

While the big cable and telephone companies -- along with Vonage -- are charging roughly $25 a month for Voice-over-Internet Protocol phone service, T-Mobile has made VoIP a loss leader.

T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Telekom, announced T-Mobile@Home on Wednesday, a new plan for cell subscribers to get unlimited VoIP service for $10 a month using traditional wired or wireless phones. A $50 router is required, as well as home broadband service and T-Mobile cell service.

Federal regulators on Thursday agreed to temporarily cap a growing subsidy program that paid nearly $1.2 billion last year to cell phone companies that do business in rural areas.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to limit payments to wireless carriers from the Universal Service Fund, which is supported by a tax on the phone bills of most Americans. The cap will remain in place until the commission passes a comprehensive reform package, which is in the works.

Three of the nation's largest cable companies are quietly pulling the plug on a joint cell-phone venture with Sprint Nextel Corp., called Pivot.

Spokespeople for Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Cox Communications Inc. said Wednesday they have stopped marketing the Pivot service and plan in the coming weeks to give their Pivot customers the option of switching to traditional Sprint mobile phone plans.

A spokeswoman for the fourth cable partner, privately held Advance/Newhouse Communications Inc., declined to comment.