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FCC requires nationals to offer cheap roaming

Concluding a fight that's been waged by smaller, regional carriers for a good long while now, the FCC has ruled in favor of the regionals by requiring that voice, messaging, and push-to-talk features must be offered at "reasonable" roaming rates between carriers of like technologies. Though the ruling is universal, it clearly benefits the smaller carriers whose subscribers spend more time blanketed by megacarriers' signals than the other way around. We'd be shocked if the nationals didn't get cracking on an appeal right away, but subscribers in rural areas should have an easy go of it in the meantime -- on voice and texting features, anyway; data roaming didn't make the FCC's list of "reasonable" roaming pricing, it seems.