There is a growing battle going on for a ruling by the FCC that is expected to come to a final battle on December 18th as the Federal Communications Commission will be voting on a plan to bring a free wireless broadband service to almost the entire population of the US. Estimates have the new service being able to reach about 95% of the population. I don’t know about you all but the idea of having access to free wireless broadband service no matter where I go in the country sounds like an incredible idea.
Of course with all great ideas there comes the details to make the idea a reality. Well just as you would expect the idea of free nationwide wireless broadband service has more than a few hurdles to overcome in order to be successful. The biggest establishments fighting against a free broadband service of course would be the big mobile wireless corporations that offer broadband at a price right now.
The general premise behind the proposal right now is to offer up the FCC’s Advanced Wireless Services 3 area at 2155-2180MHz which is simply out there idle right now and auction it off. The winning companies would be required to offer basic services for free or set aside 25% of the broadband wave for free and then charge for premium services. One of the main sticking points is the fact that the FCC want to include a “no adult content filter” which would require users to confirm they are over 18 before the filter could be removed. Needless to say there are numerous civil liberties groups that are up in arms about this filter and it being unconstitutional, I would fully agree with that assessment. I do like an alternative idea that is being kicked around and that is to go along the lines of opt in or out option kind of like the Google Safe Search option that is available when you do image searches.
I hope this free wireless broadband service does pass and we do see some version of this proposed plan in the near future. What are your thoughts on a free wireless broadband service? Does it have a shot at success or will it never see the light of day?
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Countdown To Free Wireless Broadband Decision…
I did not know that there was a possibility that the FCC may be voting in favor of a plan to give the US access to free wireless broadband service. This will be awesome if they pass it….