The California Public Utilities Commission's request for an FCC waiver to be able to use government-issued identifications other than the last four digits of Social Security numbers to verify eligibility for the Lifeline program was the subject of a recent lobbying meeting with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, NARUC said in an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 11-42. It said that California allows residents without a Social Security number to acquire driver's licenses, so some may have government-issued identification but not the required SSN.

Chattanooga's municipal utility company EPB Fiber Optics now offers 10 Gbps Internet service for every home in the 600-square-mile area, said a Thursday news release from EPB. Residential service costs $299 per month.

Pennsylvania Rep. Kevin Schreiber (D) recently introduced HB-1108, which would exempt domestic violence victims from early termination fees when they remove themselves from an abuser’s cellphone contract, said a news release from the lawmaker. The bill also would require cellphone companies to provide new phone numbers to domestic violence victims, as long as they provide documentation of the abuse, such as a police report. He said Tuesday that, because of technological advances, it has become harder for a victim to hide from an abuser, in particular when they share the same phone plan.

North Georgia Network and Georgia Public Web (GPW) teamed up to expand broadband service in underserved areas of Georgia, NGN said in a news release. NGN is a member-owned cooperative that operates more than 1,600 miles of fiber in northern Georgia. The partnership will allow both entities access to areas of the state where they previously had limited resources, NGN said. GPW is a CLEC in Georgia.

About 98 percent of the roughly 17,000 U.S. public libraries have free public Wi-Fi access, a survey from the American Library Association found. ALA said that a large portion of those libraries also offer programs to help people find training to understand technology better. Seventy-seven percent of libraries offer online health resources. About 90 percent of libraries also have basic digital literacy training, 62 percent support new technology training, 57 percent have information about safe online practices and 56 percent have training on social media use, the survey found. It was funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and managed by the ALA Office for Research & Statistics and the Information Policy and Access Center at the University of Maryland. The study provides national and state-level data. The survey used the FY 2012 Public Library Survey file released in June 2014 by the Institute of Museum and Library Services as its sample frame. The study included 5,195 libraries in its sample and received 2,304 responses, for a 44 percent response rate. Weighted analysis was used to present national estimates.

Pennsylvania officials want some control over the way FirstNet is deployed there, said Pennsylvania State Police Maj. Diane Stackhouse during a webinar this week sponsored by InfoVista. Officials want to create a quality assurance program to maintain a system that stays within public safety agency budgets, she said. Pennsylvania has done outreach and collected data showing that there will be challenges associated with providing wireless coverage in wooded areas that can be found in parts of the state, Stackhouse said.

Setting up "e-government" services could save state governments as much as $11 billion over the next five years, said a report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. ITIF said that the cost-saving measures would employ fewer workers and be run internally with services accessible to employees from anywhere and residents wouldn't have to speak to government officials in person, which would cut down on waiting lines. The federal government can help states improve their productivity by creating incentives for states to improve their use of IT, said ITIF Tuesday.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) announced Tuesday a new TV ad slamming Verizon for not building out enough FiOS in New York City, a news release from the union said. The commercial's release comes a day before the city council holds a hearing about the issue. The ad centers on New York City's audit of the FiOS rollout that says Verizon failed to meet its promise to deliver the service to everyone in the city who wanted it, the release said. Verizon has deployed fiber in every city neighborhood, a company spokesman said Tuesday. "The Union’s true goal behind this ad campaign is to try and force the company to hire more employees, which will increase membership and revenues for the Union," he said. "It’s the wrong approach. Rather than attacking the company that offers excellent jobs to more than 37,000 CWA members, the union would be far better off trying to work with us on a new contract that’s fair to our employees, our customers and would help position the company for success in the future.”

Great Plains Communications is expanding its network in Nebraska and Des Moines, a news release from the company said Thursday. Great Plains owns the largest fiber network in Nebraska, it said. The Des Moines route will offer up to 100 Gbps, the release said. The network will extend from the Nebraska market into the Des Moines carrier hotel, connecting with regional and national carriers, it said.

The New Jersey Rate Counsel again asked the state Board of Public Utilities to open an investigation into Verizon's transition from copper to fiber, in reply to Verizon's response to the rate counsel's initial request for an investigation in docket TO15060749. The counsel disagrees that Verizon is offering better services on its fiber network than on the copper one, and the Oct. 8 comments said the board should review the way the company is doing its transition. It also said customers are receiving reduced service at an increased cost because during prolonged power outages those with fiber have to have backup batteries in order to keep the service functioning. The counsel also questioned the reliability claims Verizon makes about its fiber network, saying there have been a lot of consumer complaints about disconnected calls and clicking and echoing during calls, and said that an investigation should be held to find out if that is an isolated problem or a general one.