Wireless Internet Reviews Blog » AWS-3 Spectrum

Will new FCC Chair continue broadband push?

Joe — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:08:18 +0000

In with the new, out with the old. It won’t be long before current FCC Chairman Kevin Martin will leave his post, to be replaced by Julius Genachowski, who is said to be the choice of President-elect Barack Obama. This, of course, has implications for the AWS-3 spectrum, which has been a prominent issue lately. The outgoing chair’s plans involved auctioning off the spectrum with the intention of providing free nationwide broadband access — even if porn sites couldn’t be blocked. According to early speculation, though, Genachowski is a friend to broadband.

Yet favoring broadband doesn’t mean that Genachowski will feel the same way as Martin about the current situation. There are a number of plans for nationwide broadband, so the one currently under consideration isn’t the be all, end all solution.

It’s tough to predict what will happen between now and when Genachowski deposes Martin. The hope is that he makes broadband a high priority for the administration and Commission.

This post originated at: WirelessInternetReviews.com - The premiere resource for information on mobile broadband providers like Cricket Wireless.

Will new FCC Chair continue broadband push?

Porn free Internet becomes free porn Internet

Joe — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:00:01 +0000

The story of December has been a proposed plan to provide free national broadband of the porn-free ilk. Since the FCC would be mandating this license free, they wanted the concession of keeping smut away from kids. Ergo, adult filter, which only adults can opt out of. A couple of weeks ago, though, the FCC canceled a meeting during which they were to vote on the matter. So there’s no guarantee that we’ll see this type of free national broadband. After all, it’s not like there aren’t other options. Still, the chairman wants this auction to happen.

The latest, via Alley Insider and Ars Technica: Martin is willing to remove the porn filter. It appears some consumer advocates don’t want it, and that could be holding back the whole process.

“I’m saying if this is a problem for people, let’s take it away,” Martin said. “A lot of public interest advocates have said they would support this, but we’re concerned about the filter. Well, now there’s an item in front of the Commissioners and it no longer has the filter. And I’ve already voted for it without the filter now. So it’s already got one vote.”

Does Martin want this to be his legacy? Judging by his actions it appears so. He’s been pushing this broadband issue for about two months how. While many advocacy groups, and perhaps a few Commissioners, might like the deal, the lack of a filter will probably play into the wireless industry’s hands. They don’t like this one bit, as it amounts to competition.

This post originated at: WirelessInternetReviews.com - The premiere resource for information on mobile broadband providers like Cricket Wireless.

Porn free Internet becomes free porn Internet

What are the plans for nationwide broadband?

Joe — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:22:05 +0000

We’ve seen a bit of controversy lately over the AWS-3 spectrum. At first, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was excited about a free broadband plan. He faced plenty of opposition, notably from T-Mobile, and so just last week he cancelled a December 18 vote on the matter. Since then, two congressmen have urged Democratic commissioners to force a vote. You have to wonder, with all the confusion, is this the only way we’ll get national broadband? Stacy Higginbotham of GigaOM discussed the plans under consideration.

Perhaps it is, at least from a pure wireless standpoint. The plan for now consists of auctioning off the AWS-3 spectrum and then using 25 percent of that to provide free broadband access to Americans. That will run at about 768 Kbps, so on the low side of the current mobile broadband range. Paying $30 per month will bump you to the higher, faster, unfiltered tier. The plan would cover 50 percent of the population in five years, and get up to 95 percent in 10.

That, however, would provide slow speeds to the free users. While anything free is great, we might be able to do better. There’s a “Watchdog’s Plan” which envisions an all-fiber network which will deliver 100 Mbps nationwide. That sounds great, but the cost will be even greater for consumers. Those who cannot afford it would be eligible for a subsidy, though one has to wonder what that would mean in regards to the price for the rest of us.

Finally, there’s a University plan, led by EDUCAUSE, which would also deliver 100 Mbps fiber. However, there doesn’t seem to be much coherence to this plan. For instance, it is unknown who would manage the network.

So it looks like each plan has some ups and downs. Is the AWS-3 spectrum really the best way to go?

This post originated at: WirelessInternetReviews.com - The premiere resource for information on mobile broadband providers like Cricket Wireless.

What are the plans for nationwide broadband?

Congressmen to FCC: Vote on AWS-3 spectrum

Joe — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:09:34 +0000

Earlier this week we learned that the FCC planned to cancel a meeting in which the commission would vote on the AWS-3 spectrum, a/k/a/ white spaces. This would be the first step in providing free broadband Internet across about 95 percent of the country. Upon hearing of the cancellation, two congressmen wrote the two Democratic commissioners urging them to vote with Chairman Kevin Martin on the issue. Apparently this would make a vote “in circulation.” I’m not quite sure what that means, but it appears that the FCC can still do something about this issue.

There’s also an issue of the Communications Act (which I assume is the Communications Act of 1934 as amended by the Telecom Act of 1996). It sets out deadlines for votes, and a number of bodies cite that it required the commission to vote by September 6. Clearly, they blew that deadline. The considerable pressure against the auction plays a big role in why there has been no vote. T-Mobile is one of the largest detractors, as they still claim it would interfere with the AWS-1 spectrum, despite tests which suggest otherwise.

M2Z CEO John Muleta said in an interview with FierceWireless that M2Z defers to the members of Congress in their interpretation of the law, but would like to see a decision made on the AWS-3 spectrum.

“Our interest is that this spectrum has been lying fallow for close to 17 years and the commission hasn’t made up its mind and I don’t think the public interest is served by this kind of delay,” he said.

It still sounds like this won’t happen until at least next year.

This post originated at: WirelessInternetReviews.com - The premiere resource for information on mobile broadband providers like Cricket Wireless.

Congressmen to FCC: Vote on AWS-3 spectrum

AWS-3 spectrum could change wireless Internet game

Joe — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:15:45 +0000

There’s plenty to be excited about regarding the AWS-3 spectrum, which the FCC intends for free broadband access. Of course, there is some vehement opposition from the major telecommunications and wireless companies. T-Mobile is even reportedly considering suing the FCC over their plan, which they say will interfere with existing wireless networks. Over at InfoWorld, Ephraim Schwartz takes a look at the implications of free wireless broadband.

Most importantly, he shares with us some FCC documentation which just might whet some appetites:

Require the licensee to provide free, two-way broadband Internet service including:

– engineered data rates of at least 768 kbps downstream using up to 25 percent of the licensee’s wireless network capacity.
- an “always on” network-based filtering mechanism.

Require the licensee to provide for open devices and open applications for its premium service and open devices for its free service

By the way, this service must also be porn-free, again per the FCC:

(a) The licensee of the 2155-2188 MH band (AWS-3 licensee) must provide as part of its free broadband service a network-based mechanism:

(1) That filters or blocks images and text that constitute obscenity or pornography and, in context, as measured by contemporary community standards and existing law, any images or text that otherwise would be harmful to teens and adolescents. For purposes of this rule, teens and adolescents are children 5 through 17 years of age;

Even better, there could be a pay option, cheaper than your current wireless broadband costs, which can provide speeds up to 3Mbps. If, as Schwartz says, this is around $25 per month, the major wireless carriers are going to see a mass defection of customers. That’s what competition does, though.

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. The FCC is facing a number of corporate behemoths. Hopefully, they can fend them off.

This post originated at: WirelessInternetReviews.com - The premiere resource for information on mobile broadband providers like Cricket Wireless.

AWS-3 spectrum could change wireless Internet game