One Man's War Against Verizon's Anti-Competitive Behavior There have been tens of thousands of informal consumer net neutrality complaints filed with the FCC since the agency's new rules were passed in 2015 (complaints the FCC refuses to release to the public lest they highliht the scope of a problem the current agency says doesn't exist). But to file a formal net neutrality complaint, consumers need to not only shell out $225, but painstakingly document and defend their complaint via a bureaucratic process that can take a notably long time.

one formal complaint has been filed since the agency's rules were created. As such, onlyformal complaint has been filed since the agency's rules were created. But that one complaint is a doozy. It was filed by a man named Alex Nguyen, who spent an extensive amount of time documenting every shady, anti-competitive behavior Verizon has engaged in over the years. That includes Verizon's decision to block Google Wallet, efforts to block tethering, efforts to block Google's Nexus 7 tablet (which competed with Verizon's own branded offerings), and countless more of the behaviors we've well documented around these parts for years. Not only did Nguyen painstakingly document all of Verizon's anti-competitive behaviors, but he has taken more than a year to procedurally dispute all of Verizon's counter arguments to the complaint at the FCC, some of them teetering on the comical: quote: The complaint kicked off a back-and-forth process of objections, evidence discovery, and failed mediation to reach a resolution. Along the way, there have been some hilariously petty digressions, which Nguyen, untrained in the law, has handled patiently. At one point, Verizon objected to his definition of “Verizon” and proposed its own definition. Nguyen then objected to Verizon’s objection, saying that Verizon “copied my definition almost verbatim,” which, in fact, it had . In most instances, Verizon has historically tried to hide its anti-competitive intent behind a rotating crop of faux-technical justifications, Nguyen's filing notes. In most instances, Verizon has historically tried to hide its anti-competitive intent behind a rotating crop of faux-technical justifications, Nguyen's filing notes. "With Verizon it’s always, ‘We’re blocking these features as a fraud prevention tactic,’ or ‘It didn’t pass our certification requirement that we’re not gonna talk about,’ or ‘It didn’t pass these requirements that were never specified,’" he told The Verge this week. "There’s always this pattern of deception with Verizon.” A year after being filed, Nguyen's complaint currently sits in the lap of the FCC's enforcement division. But with FCC boss currently trying to kill net neutrality protections, and comically downplaying both the scope of the problem and the massive public backlash to the FCC's plan, it doesn't seem too likely the agency's going to rule with any severity against Verizon, a company current agency boss Ajit Pai used to be employed by. A year after being filed, Nguyen's complaint currently sits in the lap of the FCC's enforcement division. But with FCC boss currently trying to kill net neutrality protections, and comically downplaying both the scope of the problem and the massive public backlash to the FCC's plan, it doesn't seem too likely the agency's going to rule with any severity against Verizon, a company current agency boss Ajit Pai used to be employed by.







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Most recommended from 20 comments

JChris

join:2015-11-19

Raleigh, NC 28 recommendations JChris Member This man will become a folk hero. Songs will be sung about his heroic quest to vanquish the red dragon called Verizon.

rchandra

Stargate Universe fan

Premium Member

join:2000-11-09

14225-2105 7 recommendations rchandra Premium Member proof it doesn't mean anything to Pai I read earlier on another site that Pai proclaimed there were no 'Net Neutrality complaints, but then had to go back and revise the wording of his statement to say there was only one. XJakeX

join:2005-03-05

Coventry, RI 7 recommendations XJakeX Member it took 3 months to cancel the billing Once upon a time, when I ran a business out of my house, I had two telephones lines with Verizon. One for phone and one for fax. When that business ended, I called to cancel the 2nd line. Within 3 seconds of hanging up with the customer service rep after he confirmed the next bill would be prorated for use to that day, the dial tone on the second line disappeared.



A month later, my bill included the full monthly charge for both lines. A call to customer service was met with "Oh we are so sorry Mr. ...... We will take care of this right away. My apologies for the oversight. Just pay the one line charge and we'll make sure it doesn't happen again."



A month later - ditto. With the same apologies



Another month later - ditto. With the same apologies.



This was not a coincidence. This was 3 months of hoping I would just pay the bill without looking at it. Nothing anti competitive here. Just a plain old attempt at thievery by a major corporation that had a monopoly on local telephone service in my part of the country.

IowaCowboy

Supermarket Hero

Premium Member

join:2010-10-16

Springfield, MA ARRIS SB6183

Netgear R8000

5 recommendations IowaCowboy Premium Member If the FCC were run by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts If the State of Massachusetts ran the FCC Ajet Pai better recuse himself from this one due to conflict of interest or he'd be hearing from the state ethics commission. Too bad there isn't a federal ethics commission to oversee conflicts of interest in the federal government.

woody7

Premium Member

join:2000-10-13

Torrance, CA 2 recommendations woody7 Premium Member hmm .............. Tools........................................................