Back in 2010, following in lock step on the heels of AT&T, Verizon imposed cap and overage pricing on wireless data, eliminated their unlimited data plans for smartphones but "grandfathered" existing unlimited users. Speaking on a recent investor webcast, Verizon Wireless CFO Fran Shammo unsurprisingly stated that as those customers switch to LTE, they're going to be forced to give up their unlimited data plans.

Those customers will be pushed toward the company's upcoming "data share" wireless data plan (aka family plans, or pooled data plans) that will allows users to connect multiple household users or devices under one plan. It's an idea that's absurdly overdue, but it may arrive with quite a pricing punch.

As we've discussed, you can expect that these new shared data plans will come with some significant caveats and fees, as the company looks to avoid the revenues gleaned from forcing each user and tablet to have its own data plan. On that same conference call, Shammo stated that he believes they'll make up most of the losses because more people will connect more devices to the network:The more people and more devices eating away at your monthly usage allotment, the more quickly users will start to head into overage territory where they'll be forced to pay $10 per gigabyte. Progress? Sort of. Just not for your wallet.

While Google's Nexus One phone was supposed to rattle the wireless status quo by offering users unsubsidized phones via a Google store, the promised revolution never arrived. That was due to a number of factors, including the fact that the phone came with 3G bugs and annoying fees -- but not with phone support (Google fixed the latter two eventually).

Just when the network neutrality debate appeared to have resigned itself to a dark corner, the revelation that Comcast was exempting Comcast TV content over Xbox 360 traffic from its bandwidth cap rekindled the entire debate. Comcast claims they're simply treating the Xbox 360 as other set top, while competitors like Netflix claim it gives them an unfair advantage in streaming video offerings.

Users in our security forums direct our attention to the fact that users of any of the paid versions of Avira's various antivirus and security programs are now dealing with crippled PCs after an update went terribly awry yesterday. The latest update to the software's AntiVirProActiv component -- not included in the free version -- identified critical Windows processes as malware and automatically terminated them.

Fierce Telecom has provided a break down of the highest paid executives in the cable and satellite, telco landline, and wireless markets. Apple's Tim Cook and his $377,996,537 in 2011 compensation aside, the usual folks are about where you'd expect them to be, with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts taking the top spot with $26.9 million in 2011 annual compensation. He's followed by the other usual names in telecom including Verizon's Lowell McAdam ($23.1 million), AT&T's Randall Stephenson ($22.01 million), Charter's Michael Lovett ($20.54 million) and Time Warner Cable's Glenn Britt ($16.43 million).

Not too concerned with the growing consumer advocate opposition to these deals or the fact that they haven't been approved by regulators yet, Verizon and the cable industry continue to expand their co-marketing relationship. Comcast and Verizon now co-market their products in a half a dozen markets, and in early April Time Warner Cable started bundling Verizon services in Kansas City, Raleigh, Cincinnati, and Columbus. Now Cox is getting into the action, joining forces with Verizon in Oklahoma to joint-market and bundle their services in competition against AT&T U-Verse. As it stands, these bundles simply involve unified billing and a gift card, but the companies say it will expand to involve unified video and other services across both landline and wireless networks.

• Verizon in $63 Billion Faceoff With AT&T Over Family Plans [bloomberg.com]
• Comcast Denies It's Prioritizing Xbox Video [lightreading.com]
• Ofcom to Publish UK ISP Internet Piracy Initial Obligations Code in June [ispreview.co.uk]
• Telcos see BYOD demand growing 25% this year [totaltele.com]
• Judge dismisses piracy suits, says IP address doesn't confirm state [cnet.com]
• Admitted file-swapper begs Supreme Court for help, says RIAA sought huge damages to create an "urban legend." [arstechnica.com]
• Billing Error and Fraud could cost Operators nearly $300bn annually by 2016 [juniperresearch.com]
• Are some people addicted to having WiFi access? [neowin.net]
• US judge sentences two to prison over $4.4m VoIP fraud [totaltele.com]

• TV Network Execs Contemplate Going To Court To Say Skipping Commercials Is Illegal [techdirt.com]
• Meet the New US Wireless Operators [lightreading.com]
• Is Comcast prioritizing traffic or not? [gigaom.com]
• Genachowski to Focus On Broadband In Senate Testimony [broadcastingcable.com]
• Verizon LTE expansion continues with 28 more cities [networkworld.com]
• AT&T, U.S. Cellular buying 700 MHz licenses for LTE [fiercewireless.com]
• Sprint planning Direct Connect Android app, promises PTT 'renaissance' [fiercewireless.com]
• Leap to expand LTE coverage to up to 65M POPs by 2014 [fiercewireless.com]
• Android continues to conquer the world [cnet.com]
• Avira Antivirus update cripples millions of Windows PCs [zdnet.com]
• How Yahoo killed Flickr and lost the Internet [gizmodo.com]
• Virgin latest airline to try allowing calls and texting on transatlantic flights [cable360.net]

Speaking at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference this week, Leap CEO Doug Hutcheson says the company plans to expand its LTE network coverage from 20-25 million POPs (potential subscribers) by the end of this year to 60-65 million POPs by the end of 2013 or early 2014. Leap says the company expects to have enough spectrum for LTE over the next three years. In 2010 Leap signed off on an MVNO deal with Sprint, and earlier this year struck a new five-year wholesale deal with Clearwire allowing Leap to buy capacity on Clearwire's upcoming LTE network. Rumors recently indicated Leap has been in talks with AT&T about a possible acquisition, though incompatible network technology make the deal anything but certain.

Already wobbly T-Mobile took a huge financial hit during the AT&T deal, with customers who didn't want to be AT&T customers fleeing the carrier while many business activities were put into neutral. As is usually the case the lower level employees paid for T-Mobile's bad idea, the company last March announcing at least 1,000 layoffs with more in the works.

Sprint MVNO Voyager Mobile is one of several companies launching this year that hopes to be somewhat disruptive with pricing. The company, a project of a kid that's still in college, promised users unlimited texts and voice calling for $19 a month.

The latest version of the American Consumer Satisfaction Index is now out, the Index ranking everything from the airline industry to the IRS on a one-hundred point scale. For our interests, the latest May ACSI rankings offers insight on customer satisfaction with fixed line phone service, subscription TV services, wireless phone service and cellular phone manufacturers.

We've been hearing from sources for a while that the change was near, and now Time Warner Cable appears finally to be eliminating the Roadrunner brand from their product lineup. A source tells us that as of May 19, numerous markets are seeing the logo and branding eliminated by products, with existing tier names simply seeing the addition of the word "Internet." For example, the company's "standard" tier will simply become the Time Warner Cable "standard Internet" tier.

While AT&T's LTE network is actually clocking in with faster speeds that Verizon's in early deployment markets, users in some markets like Chicago are seeing notably slower speeds. Why? As Kevin Fitchard at GigaOM notes, AT&T has only 10 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum in play in Chicago while it has 20 MHz in most markets.

Many cable operators haven't deployed DOCSIS 3.0 yet (especially on the upstream side), but that obviously hasn't stopped the development of the next step in cable broadband technology. CableLabs says they're cooking up a new specification that will succeed Docsis 3.0 with a particular focus on cable's upstream speeds, the spot its weakest when compared to fiber to the home. The next standard, currently just being caleed DOCSIS 3.1 or 3.x, focuses on more effective modulation schemes. Hard technical specs aren't available just yet, but you can expect to hear more at next week's The Cable Show in Boston.

• 2.6 million join Free Mobile’s French revolution in first 80 days [gigaom.com]
• Phone companies even on satisfaction [usatoday.com]
• Finnish court rules open WiFi network owner not liable for infringement [arstechnica.com]
• EchoStar prepares to launch satellite for 'Gen4' broadband Internet service [fiercecable.com]
• Fresh study says Verizon beats AT&T in overall data speed [fiercebroadbandwireless.com]
• BT to offer 330Mbps fiber next month [cable.co.uk]
• Smartphones, Tablets Not Yet Meaningful Portion Of Total Video Viewing [multichannel.com]
• As 17 more states join class action against book publishers and Apple, new details revealed [paidcontent.org]
• Tablets generate triple the data traffic of smartphones [fiercewireless.com]
• Voyager Mobile intros unlimited wireless plans starting at $19 [bgr.com]
• Is live TV already becoming a thing of the past? [nytimes.com]
• Foxand NBC: Dish's commercial-skipping DVR 'a strange thing to do' at best,'an insult' at worst [theverge.com]

• Will Apple or Google Buy Sprint to Break Into the Wireless Network Biz? [ecommercetimes.com]
• Canadian banks issue landmark NFC payments guidelines that focus on open mobile wallets and consumer data protection [nfcworld.com]
• Nationwide wireless emergency text alert system launching this month [ubergizmo.com]
• Why is UK ISP TalkTalk’s year-old porn filter suddenly big news? [pcpro.co.uk]
• New Report Lists Top 10 Legitimate Sites Blocked by UK Adult Content Filters [ispreview.co.uk]
• Amped Wireless Unveils the Industry's Most Powerful, Long Range, Indoor Wi-Fi Solution [yahoo.com]
• LightSquared’s bankruptcy is Washington’s failure too [gigaom.com]
• Bell Mobility hit with $100-million class-action lawsuit alleging that expiry dates on its pre-paid wireless services are illegal [cbc.ca]
• Clearwire: Our LTE Advanced network will be able to hit 168 Mbps [fiercewireless.com]
• FBI Sounds Alarm on Hotel WiFi Caper [technewsworld.com]
• Why Anonymous ‘might well be the most powerful organization on Earth’ [nationalpost.com]

As had been suggested this morning, LightSquared this afternoon officially filed for bankruptcy protection this afternoon. According to a statement posted to the LightSquared website, the company hopes that the bankruptcy proceedings will give them time "to resolve regulatory issues that have prevented it from building its coast-to-coast integrated satellite 4G wireless network."

"The filing was necessary to preserve the value of our business and to ensure continued operations," interim co-CEO Marc Montagner said in a statement.

A coalition of consumer groups and companies -- most of which were instrumental in blocking the AT&T T-Mobile deal, have now joined forces to block Verizon's recent deal with the cable industry.

As we noted last December, Verizon has struck a deal with Comcast, Bright House, Time Warner Cable and Cox to acquire $3.6 billion in 700 MHz spectrum and to bundle and joint market Verizon LTE wireless services.

Both the UK and Netherlands recently joined a growing list of countries who are being pressured by the entertainment industry to start filtering websites that provide access to copyrighted content. Ignored, as usual, is the fact the filters don't work (simply change your DNS provider), the efforts do nothing to stop piracy, and they very often wind up breaking core Internet functionality.