ECFiber plans to increase speeds, not prices, the company said in a news release Friday. The company's basic plan will increase from 7 to 10 Mbps; its standard plan from 20 to 25 Mbps; the ultra plan will double from 50 to 100 Mbps, and the company's "wicked fast" plan will be boosted from 100 to 500 Mbps. ECFiber’s speeds are symmetrical and have no data caps, the company said. ECFiber is a Communications Union District of 24 towns in East-Central Vermont.

Lumos Networks launched gigabit broadband service for residential and small business customers in Botetourt County, Virginia, the company said in a Friday news release. Lumos is a fiber-based provider of data, voice and IP-based services in the mid-Atlantic region. The launch is the second gigabit broadband service market for Lumos, which expects its entire ILEC fiber-to-the-premise footprint to be gigabit-enabled by the end of 2016.

The California Broadband Council is scheduled to meet 8:30 a.m. Thursday in Sacramento in Room 2040 at the Capitol to discuss funding, the digital divide and other issues, the agenda said. The council was established in 2010 to increase broadband deployment and adoption statewide. The agenda topics include a California First Responder Network FirstNet request for proposal, a broadband deployment to public schools update, an e-Rate Consortia and deployment to libraries update, and an update on hearings of the Assembly Select Committee on the Digital Divide in Rural California. There also will be an 80-minute discussion about California's broadband funding.

AT&T and the Louisiana Office of Technology Services are cooperating to modernize communications within the state, the telco said in a news release. The state will use AT&T's switched ethernet to "plan, provision and scale its network usage," it said. The network also supports teleheath, electronic health records, online student testing, e-filing of state forms, video streaming of legislative meetings and electronic licensing, registration and renewals, AT&T said. The service is less susceptible to interruptions caused by events such as hurricanes, it said.

The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs is encouraging parents to file a complaint if their Internet-connected baby monitors were hacked, said a Wednesday DCA news release. Commissioner Julie Menin warned parents to take the necessary steps to ensure their Internet-connected baby monitors aren't vulnerable to privacy or security risks. DCA is issuing subpoenas to several major manufacturers of video monitors that market their devices as secure, it said. DCA is investigating whether the companies have corrected known security vulnerabilities with their devices and whether their security claims violate the city’s consumer protection law, it said. Cybersecurity researchers have said many top-selling Internet-connected baby monitors, which are often marketed as secure, are easily exploited by hackers, DCA said. DCA didn't release the names of companies it subpoenaed.

The Hill Country Telephone Cooperative (HCTC) will implement the COPsync911 threat-alert system at seven of its locations in Texas, COPsync said in a news release Wednesday. COPsync operates a law enforcement real-time, in-car information sharing, communication and data interoperability network. The HCTC is a member-owned telecom cooperative based in the Texas Hill Country.

FirstLight Fiber extended its network by adding 36,000 fiber miles in New York's Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties, the company said in a news release. The company constructed the addition in response to market and customer demand to expand its offerings closer to New York City, the release said. The network is designed to be in close proximity to more than 4,000 cell tower and enterprise locations in order to serve businesses along the fiber route, it said. FirstLight Fiber is a facilities-based provider operating in New York and northern New England. The newly constructed network can support dark fiber, ethernet and wavelength services from 10 Mbps to 100 Gbps as well as Internet access, the release said. With this expansion, FirstLight’s fiber network now spans 260,000 fiber miles in New York, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts, it said.

Albany, New York, signed an agreement with Millennium Strategies to complete a study of the broadband needs of city residents and businesses, a news release from the city said. The study is being financed by $20,000 in community development funds from the Albany Community Development Agency and additional funding that's being pursued elsewhere, the release said. The review comes out of the work of the Broadband Initiative Working Group, which includes representatives from the Albany Public Library, the Downtown and Central Avenue business improvement districts, the City School District of Albany, Green Tech Charter School, the Albany Housing Authority, the Albany Promise, the Center for Technology in Government at the State University of New York at Albany, and business leaders, the release said. The study is expected to be completed before the summer.

All low-income households should be involved in any broadband Lifeline program, especially seniors, people with disabilities and veterans, said an ex parte filing by the California Emerging Technology Fund posted Wednesday in FCC docket 10-90. CETF and representatives from EveryoneOn, the Chicana/Latina Foundation, the Los Angeles Unified School District and the County of Los Angeles met with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn Jan. 21 about Lifeline modernization. CETF also proposed a wireless router be included in any modem provided as part of the program, for school-issued electronic devices to be compatible with the broadband service being provided. The Chicana/Latina Foundation emphasized the importance of in-language, in-culture outreach for broadband adoption efforts, citing its experience working with CETF on successful California broadband adoption programs, the filing said. EveryoneOn encouraged the commission to set performance goals to reach the national broadband plan goal of 90 percent by 2020, with disadvantaged populations no less than 80 percent, it said. The school district emphasized the importance of affordable home Internet connectivity for its students.

Customers, advocates and telecom workers railed against a proposal to sell Cablevision to Dutch-owned Altice (see 1601250011), at a New York State Public Service Commission hearing in the Bronx Wednesday, said a news release from the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The union cited concerns over what it called Altice’s track record of taking on large amounts of debt, cutting staff and outsourcing jobs, which would have a negative effect on customer service and New York’s economy, the release said. The Altice proposal would have the company take on $8.6 billion in debt to finance the deal -- on top of Cablevision’s existing $5.9 billion debt (see 1512090034), the release said. The level of debt would require deep cost-cutting at Cablevision, which would cause both staffing and network investments to suffer, to the detriment of both consumers and workers, CWA said. The union filed official objections with the FCC on the deal in December (see 1512080013), also pointing to the debt. “The current deal proposed would have a ripple effect on Cablevision’s programing, customer service, and employees,” said Dennis Trainor, CWA vice president-District One, during Wednesday's hearing. “There is a concern that Cablevision employees will lose their jobs and services will be cut for customers. If Altice doesn’t start to make commitments to protect jobs and ensure excellent customer service, the PSC should reject the proposal." Altice had no immediate comment.