Speaking of network neutrality, multichannel, Ars Technica and others reported that Comcast settled the class action suit against it (Hart vs Comcast) for $16M.

In its current Network Neutrality Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, as well as its presentation at the October FCC Open Meeting, the FCC cited the Comcast case (throttling of P2P use) and the Madison River case (throttling of VoIP, i.e., Vonage, use) as formative in its thinking on the open internet. Note that in the NPRM the FCC seeks comments on a proposal *not* “to adopt the standard articulated in the Comcast Network Management Practices Order in this rulemaking.”

KDDI Research Institute published a report (Japanese-language) I provided on the recent Net Neutrality Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 09-121, In the Matter of Preserving the Open Internet).

Blair Levin, Executive Director of the FCC’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative (i.e., the National Broadband Task Force), called the US the Doug Flutie of wireless broadband in a recent blog post on the broadband.gov website. His points: skills can only take you so far. You need raw assets, in this case spectrum, as well.

The FCC has more than hinted at reclaiming both broadcast TV spectrum and perhaps fallow government spectrum. CTIA, meanwhile, has asked that 800 MHz be liberated for wireless. The Broadband Task Force’s status update from the September 22nd FCC Open Meeting is available here. The section on spectrum starts on slide 61.

After much rumor on BGR and others, T-Mobile USA unveiled its Even More and Even More Plus cellular plans. Even More is essentially all you can eat voice and texting at $59.99. Having walked through the purchase process, it looks like they’re throwing in free mobile data (for a term TBD) and free shipping too.

The wrinkle with Even More Plus is that the handset subsidy is now paid back on an installment plan, as has been broadly adopted in the Japanese market. There, it had the effect of lowering ARPU, dramatically lowering churn, and improving carrier operating margins. The drop in churn is shown below. A churn rate of 1% means that 12% of customers turn over per year. Note how all operators are at or below 1%, or well below even Verizon Wireless, which has the lowest churn among the US national operators.

Japan’s Q4-2008 ends in March 2009. Softbank instituted such plans in fall 2006 and NTT DoCoMo followed in fall 2007 following guidance from MIC, Japan’s regulatory agency. KDDI followed the following year.

Commentary from CNET, and Engadget.