Social media tools are a critical vehicle for connecting with constituents and in all aspects of political campaigns, elected officials said during a panel Tuesday at the Politics Online Conference in Washington. They use the tools to connect their constituents to one another, generate public forums and raise funds. “I don’t think that we would be as productive as we are were it not for Facebook and Twitter and Linked In because so many of our constituencies use it,” said Sandi Jackson, Chicago’s 7th Ward alderman: It “makes me more effective in my effort to be a great public servant."

CTIA President Steve Largent said Tuesday he sees reason for hope that the FCC will not make wireless subject to net neutrality rules. Largent also said in an interview that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will be the key member of the commission in deciding whether broadband will be classified as a Title II service, subject to traditional common carrier regulation, with his vote needed to resolve an apparent 2-2 split among commissioners. Net neutrality replies are due at the FCC Monday.

The FCC has put an unrealistic amount of work on its agenda to complete in too short of a time frame following release of the National Broadband Plan, said Larry Darby, former Common Carrier Bureau chief and FCC chief economist, during a New York Law School panel discussion late Monday. Some of the issues the FCC plans to tackle will likely elude easy resolution and Congress may have to step in, Darby warned.

Several universities, including Princeton and George Washington, have reported network issues caused by use of the iPad on school networks since the Wi-Fi version of the device went on sale in early April, the schools said. Apple, the device’s manufacturer, couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.

The FCC won’t undertake Universal Service Fund reform specifically for the non-rural high cost support mechanism, it said in an order. The commission decided it has met its statutory obligation to provide sufficient support, it said late Friday. The FCC also found that “rural rates are reasonably comparable to urban rates if they fall within a reasonable range of the national average urban rate. … The current non-rural high-cost support mechanism comports with requirements of Section 254” in the Communications Act.

The FCC decided not to adopt a new high-cost support mechanism for non-rural insular carriers in Puerto Rico. “Telephone subscribership in Puerto Rico is not yet at the same level as in the mainland United States, but the data before us indicate that the gap is closing rapidly and may well be eliminated entirely in the near future,” the commission said in its order. The commission also pointed to increased wireless service as a factor in its decision. Low-income customers in Puerto Rico “increasingly are served by wireless competitive eligible telecom carriers (ETCs),” it said. “Customers of wireless carriers received more than one-third of the total low-income support disbursed to Puerto Rico in 2008."

Cisco closed its acquisition of video company Tandberg for $3.3 billion, executives said during a conference call Monday, saying the deal marks the launch of Cisco’s open source effort. The company is also looking at 3D opportunities, they said.

A deluge of cable encryption waiver requests at the FCC that some had anticipated never materialized. That doesn’t mean cable operators besides Cablevision, which won the first exemption (CD Jan 11 p10) , won’t seek waivers in the future as more systems go all-digital so service can be turned on and off without sending trucks and technicians to people’s homes, industry lawyers and executives said. Potential waiver seekers seem busy for now with other technical and policy issues, such as the FCC’s examination of CableCARDs, said commission and industry officials.

The FCC is moving fast on the public safety network and quick actions in areas like interoperability and the emergency communications system are expected, Public Safety Bureau officials said during an FCBA lunch Friday. The agency is also seeking to increase its involvement with cybersecurity and critical infrastructure survivability where it doesn’t have much of a track record, they said.

Politicians will increasingly use “augmented-reality” smartphone applications and the mobile Web in election campaigns, said Hill and industry officials. Interactive mobile apps are a novel tool to engage potential voters, but compelling content is still critical, they said Monday at the Politics Online Conference. “People buy the shovel, but they want the hole,” said Will Hurley, chief architect of open source strategy at BMC Software.