U.S. law requires major phone companies to wait seven days before letting users know about a data breach.

It's a rule that FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is hoping to change.

In January, she sent out a proposal that would eliminate "the current seven business day mandatory waiting period for notifying customers of a breach," along with several other changes designed to help people protect their data.

"The idea that I could have my phone hijacked by somebody else, and used in a way that appears to be me, puts a lot of other systems at risk," said Karen Worstell, a senior cybersecurity strategist at VMware, a company which provides multi-cloud services for all apps.

"That's the reason why the FCC is looking at notifying customers early. Customers have to make a choice about what they're going to do about their phone security."

It's an idea echoed by Rosenworcel.

"[T]hese rules need updating to fully reflect the evolving nature of data breaches and the real-time threat they pose to affected to consumers," Rosenworcel said in a written statement about the proposal.

"Customers deserve to be protected against the increase in frequency, sophistication and scale of these data leaks."

Not everyone agrees.

There are currently only four people serving on the five-person Federal Communications Commission, and they are split along party lines: two Democrats and two Republicans.

President Joe Biden's nominee to join the FCC, Gigi Sohn, has been stalled in the Senate for several months.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is scheduled to vote on her nomination Wednesday.

If approved, she would still have to pass a vote of the full Senate.

FCC action can't come soon enough to save most Americans from having their personal information exposed.

By one estimate, every person in the U.S. had their data stolen four times during 2019.

Breaches have become more common since then.

"We do seem to still have an under-reporting of breaches," Worstell said.

"I'm not exactly sure why. But the understanding is that there are breaches occurring that are not currently being reported. There's a few ways that companies can avoid doing a reporting of a breach. And so many of them may be taking advantage "

Worstell said it's important for all of us to keep an eye out for unfamiliar transactions on our bank or credit card accounts.

She recommended setting up alerts with your bank.

But the most important thing consumers can do, according to Worstell, is activating two-factor authentication on any apps containing personal data.

"Two-factor authentication just means that you have your name, your user id, your password, and another code, usually something that was sent to your phone," Worstell said.

"I would implement that everywhere. Everywhere. Passwords are absolutely worthless at this point in time. If you want to put in 17-character, complex passwords on all of your accounts, go ahead and do that. They're still breakable."

Potentially abysmal air travel interruptions were narrowly avoided this week when wireless carriers made a last-minute change to their planned 5G rollout in response to fears that new cell service towers could interfere with a key component on passenger jets that allows them to safely land in low visibility conditions.

Warnings of mass flight cancellations came as AT&T, Verizon and the airline industry hashed out a deal to delay 5G deployment around major airports. And on Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration cleared a greater number of commercial airliners to fly in the situations where pilots consider possible 5G interference to be the most dangerous. Now, nearly 80% of the United States' entire commercial airliner fleet has that clearance.

In the end, crisis seemed to be mostly averted. No planes fell out of the sky. And — with a few exceptions — air travel stayed mostly on schedule.

But we're not in the clear yet.

The agreement to delay 5G deployment around airports is only a temporary fix, and it's not clear if all the negotiating parties have a specific deadline they're working toward. A significant number of planes still haven't been cleared to land in those most dangerous situations. Regional air carriers have been crying out that they've been left out of discussions and are still facing long- and short-term impacts. And, to the public's knowledge, a permanent solution to the issue still hasn't been settled on.

Here's everything we do — and don't — know about the situation.

What's the deal with the FAA 'clearing' some planes but not others?

Radar altimeters are devices that use radio waves to gauge how far an aircraft is off the ground, and they're essential for commercial airliners to land in bad weather. At the root of the ongoing problem is the fact that 5G frequencies Verizon and AT&T have just deployed, known as the C-band, are very near to the frequencies used by radar altimeters, sparking concerns about interference.

Over the past two weeks, radar altimeter manufacturers have scrambled to "evaluate data from the wireless companies to determine how robust each model" of radar altimeter is and whether it can still function even when flying near an active 5G antenna, according to the FAA.

In a statement Thursday, the FAA said it issued more approvals that allow 78% of the U.S. commercial airliner fleet to perform low-visibility landings at airports near where wireless companies deployed 5G. Essentially, regulators said that they now deemed it safe for aircraft that used one of 13 types of radar altimeters.

The approved models include:

• All Boeing 717, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, 787, MD-10/-11 jets
• All Airbus A300, A310, A319, A320, A330, A340, A350 and A380 models
• Some Embraer 170 and 190 regional jets

But of course, more than 20% of the United States' commercial aircraft fleet hasn't been approved. And the FAA warned that it anticipates that "some altimeters will be too susceptible to 5G interference."

"To preserve safety, aircraft with those altimeters will be prohibited from performing low-visibility landings where 5G is deployed because the altimeter could provide inaccurate information," the agency said.

The agency also warned that the buffers that are reducing 5G signal strength around certain airports are essential for keeping safe operations going.

It is not clear, however, why the FAA and altimeter manufacturers could not have done these evaluations sooner.

On its website, the FAA states that over the past two weeks it has "received vital 5G" data that made these decisions possible and "facilitated data sharing" between altimeter manufacturers and wireless companies.

What's the deal with regional carriers?

They're still in limbo, according to Faye Malarkey Black, who as Regional Airline Association president represents the carriers connecting larger hubs to dozens of smaller cities around the country.

Regional flights have brands like American Eagle, Delta Connection, and United Express, and they're contracted out to companies or subsidiaries like Envoy, ExpressJet, Republic Airways and SkyWest Airlines.

And for them — "crisis has not been averted," Black warned.

Bombardier jets, which are frequently flown by regional carriers, haven't gotten the green light for their altimeters. And Black said the rural airports will still "take a big hit to [their] operation when weather rolls in."

"We will never compromise on safety," Black wrote on Twitter. "Flights will be grounded. Near term = highly disruptive. Long term = small [communities] will have less choice & less service."

How did we get here and who's to blame?

We're not sure. The airline industry has known for years that 5G was coming. Part of the issue may be an ongoing power struggle between the FAA and the Federal Communications Commission, which is the United States' referee for all things radio spectrum-related and sold off the band of spectrum at issue to wireless companies for a whopping $80 billion last year.

The FAA and FCC had been aware that airlines believed a travel disaster could be imminent if 5G were deployed without addressing the altimeter concerns. Wireless carriers had largely dismissed those concerns, however, and it wasn't until international airlines began canceling flights ahead of the 5G deployment on Wednesday that everyone began to announce significant strides in finding a solution.

And that's how we got to where we are now, with temporary buffer zones that prevent 5G from being deployed near certain airports — we don't know exactly which ones — and a massive scramble to hash out exactly how much the altimeters will be impacted by this new cell service.

As far as who is to blame, Verizon and AT&T pinned much of the blame on the Federal Aviation Administration in statements on Tuesday.

But the FAA has been adamant that the aviation industry's concerns are real — and with the industry already reeling from the global pandemic — airlines are desperately hoping to avoid giving people yet another reason not to fly.

Emirates president Sir Tim Clark did not mince words about what he sees as the issue, placing blame on the entire structure of the U.S. system, saying "this is one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible" situations that he's seen in his aviation career.

He added that the "risks and dangers" should have already been evaluated.

How do we fix all this?

It's not clear. Discussion among wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon as well as the airline industry and federal regulators are still ongoing.

We're not sure if or when they will publicly announce a definitive path forward, but decisions will have to be made, especially considering the 5G "buffer zones" around major air hubs are still only temporary.

Tom Wheeler, who served as chair of the FCC from 2013 to 2017, wrote some suggestions in a November piece for The Brookings Institution, where he said the concerns over spectrum interference could be allayed by making adjustments to the altimeters themselves.

The problem? That's likely to cost billions of dollars — billions that no corporation wants to take out of its own pockets.

"There are only three sources of such funds for the aviation industry. The government could pay out of the almost $82 billion generated by the sale of licenses to use the [5G spectrum at issue]; that would probably require an act of Congress," Wheeler wrote. "The wireless industry could pay an additional tariff on top of the billions already spent for spectrum the government said would be ready for use on December 5. The aviation industry, having known for some time of the new 5G allocation, could pay to fix the offending altimeters."

Wheeler, for his part, also placed much of the blame for this debacle on a lack of leadership and a lack of a national spectrum policy.

What's next?

We're still waiting for updates on the negotiations from the FAA, FCC and all the other involved parties. It's not clear if there is a firm deadline they're working toward, nor is it clear how long the "temporary" 5G buffer zones will stay in place.

Airlines say that while they don't have a final resolution in the major disruption to global flights this week, after fears that 5G would disrupt aircraft communications, executives say they are in a better place. Industry fears over 5G disruptions appear to have subsided, for now.

As CNN reported, executives told investors Thursday that a threat to operations from the rollout of 5G technology now feels less serious.

The CEO of American Airlines, Doug Parker, told CNN, "It's taken a while to get to the right spot, but I feel like we're in the right spot." Parker said, "I don't think you're going to see any material disruption going forward because of this."

Long-haul carrier Emirates says it will also resume its Boeing 777 flights to the U.S. after halting its use of the aircraft there over concerns new 5G services in America could interfere with airplane technology that measures altitude, the Associated Press reported.

International carriers that rely heavily on the wide-body Boeing 777, and other Boeing aircraft, canceled early flights or switched to different planes Wednesday. That was after warnings from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Chicago-based plane maker over possible interference with radio altimeters.

The FAA gave approval late Wednesday for more types of planes to land in low visibility near 5G signals, including the Boeing 777.

AT&T and Verizon will delay launching new wireless service near key airports after the nation’s largest airlines said the service would interfere with aircraft technology and cause massive flight disruptions.

The decision from the telecommunication companies arrived Tuesday as the Biden administration tried to broker a settlement between the telecom companies and the airlines over a rollout of new 5G service, scheduled for Wednesday.

Airlines want the new service to be banned within two miles of airport runways.

AT&T said it would delay turning on new cell towers around runways at some airports — it did not say how many or for how long — and work with federal regulators to settle the dispute.

A short time later, Verizon said it will launch its 5G network but added, “we have voluntarily decided to limit our 5G network around airports." It blamed airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration, saying they “have not been able to fully resolve navigating 5G around airports” although it is working in more than 40 countries.

The announcements came after the airline industry issued a dire warning about the impact a new type of 5G service would have on flights. CEOs of the nation’s largest airlines said interference with aircraft systems would be worse than they originally thought, making many flights impossible.

“To be blunt, the nation’s commerce will grind to a halt” unless the service is blocked near major airports, the CEOs said in a letter Monday to federal officials including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has previously taken the airlines’ side in the matter.

President Joe Biden said the agreements by AT&T and Verizon “will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90% of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled." He said the administration will keep working with both sides to reach a permanent solution around key airports.

The new high-speed wireless service uses a segment of the radio spectrum, C-Band, that is close to that used by altimeters, which are devices that measure the height of aircraft above the ground. Altimeters are used to help pilots land when visibility is poor, and they link to other systems on planes.

AT&T and Verizon say their equipment will not interfere with aircraft electronics, and that the technology is being safely used in many other countries.

However, the CEOs of 10 passenger and cargo airlines including American, Delta, United and Southwest say that 5G will be more disruptive than earlier thought because dozens of large airports that were to have buffer zones to prevent 5G interference with aircraft will still be subject to of flight restrictions announced last week by the FAA. They add that those restrictions won’t be limited to times when visibility is poor.

“Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded. This means that on a day like yesterday, more than 1,100 flights and 100,000 passengers would be subjected to cancellations, diversions or delays,” the CEOs said.

The showdown between two industries and their rival regulators — the FAA and the Federal Communications Commission, which oversees radio spectrum — threatens to further disrupt the aviation industry, which has been hammered by the pandemic for nearly two years.

This was a crisis that was years in the making.

The airline industry and the FAA say that they have tried to raise alarms about potential interference from 5G C-Band but the FCC ignored them.

The telecoms, the FCC and their supporters argue that C-Band and aircraft altimeters operate far enough apart on the radio spectrum to avoid interference. They also say that the aviation industry has known about C-Band technology for several years but did nothing to prepare — airlines chose not to upgrade altimeters that might be subject to interference, and the FAA failed to begin surveying equipment on planes until the last few weeks.

After rival T-Mobile got what is called mid-band spectrum from its acquisition of Sprint, AT&T and Verizon spent tens of billions of dollars for C-Band spectrum in a government auction run by the FCC to shore up their own mid-band needs, then spent billions more to build out new networks that they planned to launch in early December.

In response to concern by the airlines, however, they initially agreed to delay the service until early January.

Late on New Year’s Eve, Buttigieg and FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson asked the companies for another delay, warning of “unacceptable disruption” to air service.

AT&T CEO John Stankey and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg rejected the request in a letter that had a scolding, even mocking tone. But they had second thoughts after intervention that reached the White House. The CEOs agreed to the second, shorter delay but implied that there would be no more compromises.

In that deal, the telecoms agreed to reduce the power of their networks near 50 airports for six months, similar to wireless restrictions in France. In exchange, the FAA and the Transportation Department promised not to further oppose the rollout of 5G C-Band.

Biden praised the deal, but the airlines weren’t satisfied with the agreement, regarding it as a victory for the telecoms that didn’t adequately address their concerns.

___

Tali Arbel in New York and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this story.

AT&T and Verizon have agreed to postpone their planned rollouts of 5G infrastructure near airports by two weeks, averting — for now — feared widespread disruptions to air travel and shipping as well as a potential legal battle over the matter.

Both carriers confirmed late Monday evening that they will hold off on activating 5G services near airports until Jan. 19 and that in the meantime, officials will continue working on adapting French-style restrictions on 5G to the United States.

"At Secretary [of Transportation Pete] Buttigieg's request, we have voluntarily agreed to one additional two-week delay of our deployment of C-Band 5G services," an AT&T spokesperson said in a statement. "We also remain committed to the six-month protection zone mitigations we outlined in our letter. We know aviation safety and 5G can co-exist and we are confident further collaboration and technical assessment will allay any issues."

AT&T is the parent company of WarnerMedia, of which CNN is a part.

Verizon has also agreed to a two-week delay, according to spokesman Rich Young. He said the delay "promises the certainty of bringing this nation our game-changing 5G network in January delivered over America's best and most reliable network."

The announcement comes as aviation industry officials had been expected to sue the Federal Communications Commission in a last-ditch bid to keep the rollout from taking effect on Jan. 5. Preparations to file the court petition were already underway when news of the agreement arrived, according to an airline industry official, who said that the litigation would be paused in light of the two-week extension.

The official added that behind the scenes, negotiators had been working "frantically to come to an agreement" and that Monday's result may "seem a little dramatic, but that's sometimes how things work. This is potentially a really good result in the interim, here."

In December, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an urgent warning that it planned to ban pilots from using a key aircraft instrument amid concerns that 5G signals could interfere with the devices — a decision the agency said would likely lead to widespread flight delays and diversions.

In a statement, the FAA thanked the wireless carriers.

"Safety is the core of our mission and this guides all of our decisions," the agency said. "We look forward to using the additional time and space to reduce flight disruptions associated with this 5G deployment."

If your mobile phone is more than a few years old, you may need to upgrade before your provider shuts down its 3G network, to avoid losing service, the FCC warns.Starting as early as Jan. 1 2022, 3G service will no longer work, as cell carriers shut down the old network to make room for 5G service which promises higher speed and greater reliability.As a result, many older cell phones will be unable to make or receive calls and texts, including calls to 911, or use data services. When is it happening?AT&T announced that it will finish shutting down its 3G network by February 2022.Verizon announced that it will finish shutting down its 3G network by Dec. 31, 2022.T-Mobile announced that it will finish shutting down Sprint's 3G CDMA network by March 31, 2022 and Sprint's 4G LTE network by June 30, 2022. It also announced it will shut down T-Mobile's 3G UMTS network by July 1, 2022, but has not yet announced a shutdown date for its 2G network.If your mobile carrier is not listed here, you may still be affected. Owners of older phones can check with their cell carrier, but it's not just phones that are impacted. Some medical devices, tablets, smart watches, home security systems, and other products might still depend on the 3G network. What do I need to do?Contact your mobile provider for more information specific to their 3G retirement plan and whether your phone, or other devices, may be affected. You may need to upgrade to a newer device to ensure that you can stay connected, and carriers may be offering discounted or free upgrades to help consumers who need to upgrade their phones.WMUR contributed to this report.