STILL LOOKING FOR THAT FREE BROADBAND
I remember some time ago hearing that we were going to get 'FREE BROADBAND'!
People were so excited. It was to be a GIANT leap forward, in providing FREE broadband for everyone.
So Much Planning & Debating
Preview this article from Dec. '08:
FCC to vote on free broadband Internet across USA
Free
broadband for America has inched closer to reality: The plan, after two
years of debate, is finally on the calendar for a full vote by the
Federal Communications Commission.
Assuming
the plan is approved at the FCC's Dec. 18 meeting, one of the agency's
last before President-elect Barack Obama takes office, free broadband
could become reality within a year.
First
proposed in 2006, the plan calls for a chunk of airwaves called AWS-3
(now idle) to be used for wireless broadband across the USA. Under terms
contemplated by the FCC, the winner of the AWS-3 auction would have to
reserve at least 25% of network capacity for free broadband.
The winner would be allowed to charge for other services, including premium broadband that would offer faster speeds.
Assuming there are no last-minute snags, the AWS-3 auction will take place next year.
The
FCC plans to impose several conditions. Among them: The winner will be
required to launch free broadband with a filter that automatically
blocks adult content. Users can remove the filter once they've confirmed
that they are at least 18 years old.
FCC
Chairman Kevin Martin has championed the idea of free broadband. Martin
is particularly concerned about rural areas, where dial-up and
satellite-based Internet still rule. Dial-up isn't fast enough to handle
interactive fare, including video streaming. Satellite has the muscle,
but broadband-strength speeds can cost $100 or more a month.
About
38% of rural households have broadband. In urban and suburban areas,
where competition for customers can be fierce, the numbers are a lot
higher, 57% and 60%, respectively. Martin says free broadband can help
bridge the gap. "This initiative brings with it the promise of a free
basic broadband service to hundreds of thousands of Americans who
currently have limited or no access to the high-speed Internet," Martin
said in a statement prepared for USA TODAY.
Big
wireless carriers, which stand to lose customers — and profits — if
free broadband takes off, have criticized the FCC's plan.
The
harshest critic is T-Mobile. The carrier paid $4 billion two years ago
to buy the spectrum that abuts the AWS-3 block. T-Mobile claims the
FCC's plan will cause service disruptions for its customers. The FCC
disagrees.
Despite
opposition from incumbents, the plan has a number of strong supporters.
Chief among them is the company that dreamed up the idea initially,
M2Z, a wireless start-up backed by Kleiner Perkins, the big Silicon
Valley venture capital firm.
Milo
Medin, M2Z's co-founder and a broadband pioneer, says that in addition
to being a big positive for consumers, the plan is consistent with
Obama's belief in the power of private-public partnerships. While free
broadband alone won't close the divide between digital haves and have
nots, Medin says it's a good start.
Here's another article from almost a couple years later, 10 March '10:
FCC Considering Free Wireless Broadband as Part of National Plan
The
FCC won't unveil its long-awaited National Broadband Plan until next
week, but it has already hinted at what would be one of its most
intriguing items: free wireless access. As Reuters reports, the
Commission was pretty mum on details, but did say in a statement that
offering a "free or a very low cost wireless broadband service" to
specific swaths of the population may significantly boost online
accessibility. In the same statement, released at the Digital Inclusion
Summit, the FCC said that it would also recommend that Congress create a
volunteer Digital Literacy Corps, which could offer Internet training
to targeted communities with low wireless coverage rates.
It's
important to keep in mind that these are only recommendations. The FCC
will surely beef up the argument for providing free Internet, and will
hopefully offer some sort of outline about how to go about implementing
it. Ultimately, though, it'll be up to members of Congress to pick and
choose what parts of the FCC's proposal it wants to put into action.
Given the political gridlock that's recently taken hold of Capitol Hill
(and the sadly realistic possibility that "socialist Wi-Fi" could ignite
another powder keg of Tea Party hysteria), we wouldn't get our hopes
up, even in a country where one-third of the population doesn't have
high-speed access. Providing free or subsidized broadband makes
absolutely perfect sense -- which is exactly why we're not optimistic
about seeing it come to fruition.
So Where's The Broadband?
As
a result of all this, we seem to have now a couple free Wi-Fi hotspots
here & there, predominantly in the metro areas of major big cities.
I heard Google had once a
Beta TISP Program for bringing you
sewer-cheap broadband into your homes:
[click to view larger pics]
Do many of you have free, high-quality broadband reaching your homes yet?
ANYBODY? ..... ANYBODY?
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