Free Wi-Fi for everyone? FCC says maybe
Roswell resident Jan Oetinger uses the free Wirelesstown internet connection in Roswell Area Park. (Phil Skinner pskinner@ajc.com)
Follow us on Twitter @AJCBiz
(Updated 12:44 p.m.) What would you say to unlimited access to free super Wi-Fi networks across the nation – and possibly never having to sign up for a data plan?
The Federal Communications Commission is considering making free Wi-Fi- networks available to the public. While it could be years before it’s a reality, the proposal already has wireless service providers in a tizzy, according to The Washington Post.
The proposed Wi-Fi networks would be powerful enough to “penetrate thick concrete walls and travel over hills and around trees,” the Post said.
The idea is from FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. “Freeing up unlicensed spectrum is a vibrantly free-market approach that offers low barriers to entry to innovators developing the technologies of the future and benefits consumers,” Genachowski told the Post.
A major obstacle would be getting the free Wi-Fi networks built, as Arstechnica.com points out. The Post report partly stems from a so-called “White Spaces” proposal that uses spectrum from empty TV channels and allows the airwaves to be used for Wi-Fi or “super” Wi-Fi, Artstechnica says. But the FCC only allocates airwaves. Someone would have to build the Wi-Fi networks.
According to Artstechnica, the talk about free Wi-Fi has re-emerged because the FCC is taking comments “from industry players about the agency’s plan to free up spectrum owned by TV broadcasters through incentive auctions. Newly freed spectrum in the 600MHz band could be used for Super Wi-Fi, and other services that might expand mobile Internet access.”
Opening up more Wi-Fi access could boost innovation, according to the Post. Because of the Super Wi-Fi networks’ reach, driverless cars might be able to communicate with other vehicles a mile away or hospitals might be able monitor patients from long distances, just to name a few of the ideas. In fact, Google, Microsoft and other technology companies support the proposal because of the anticipated explosion of new innovations.
AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and other carriers, however, say the government should stick to governing and sell those super airwaves to businesses who can then provide the public with access. Some opponents in the $178 billion wireless industry also argue that opening up the super Wi-Fi networks could interfere with existing cellular networks and television broadcasts.
Should the government put the plan into high gear, or should the airwaves be sold to businesses?
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
209 comments Add your comment
Synonomous
February 5th, 2013
3:12 pm
@L-Dorrado:
As I’ve said, there shouldn’t have been a need for this to be subsidized by the government. We’ve already been paying the ISPs and telecoms extra money for years, money they were supposed to use to build out greater network capactiy, speed, and service areas.
They basically pocketed the money.
James
February 5th, 2013
3:14 pm
All of you that say this can’t work seem to forget that it worked for 50 years with television driven by advertisement. Now we pay for the waves that we all as a people own and still deal with advertising. Talk about getting the wool pulled over your eyes! If you don’t understand the way something works, then you should shut up and learn something instead of spouting off your political nonsense. You don’t just open the hood of your car and rebuild your engine if you don’t know anything about engines.
James
February 5th, 2013
3:16 pm
@Synonomous:
You are exactly right. The Federal Excise Tax is one example.
L-Dorrado
February 5th, 2013
3:18 pm
Synonomous… Yes I am aware of that but I was giving the example of what big scary Gov’t has done in S. Korean at a small flat cost to the people… I would be MORE than happy to pay $50 a month for 100MB up and down for wireless wifi…. then I would GLADLY abandon my grandfathered unlimited data plan from Verizon and switch to unlimited voice…. and I would tell Xfinity to kill my internet service “EL PRONTO!”
DawgNole
February 5th, 2013
3:21 pm
Simple Truths
February 5th, 2013
1:19 pm
Well if it’s “free”… More “free” government services. I can only imagine what support/help would be like when issues arise.
___________________
As if “support/help” were worth a damn now. Typically, you get a robot who can barely speak English, who reads from a script, and who must “check my sources” (while putting you on hold for hours) to answer all but the simplest of questions.
Drudge
February 5th, 2013
3:22 pm
Free everything is called Communism – and that always works out well…
Jon
February 5th, 2013
3:22 pm
The FCC has no plan to create free Wi-Fi networks, this article is false. This is the real story: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/02/no-free-wi-fi-isnt-coming-to-every-us-city/
it was quoted in this article, but not linked to.
Disclosure: I wrote it.
L-Dorrado
February 5th, 2013
3:23 pm
James…. you are wasting your time. These are the SAME people that thought the earth was flat, and if you taught otherwise, they called you a heretic. Same people that conducted Witch hunts in New England…same people that sat quiet for 8 years as we ran through surplus, started two unfunded wars (which almost bankrupted the country..See former USSR) and off shored american job…that are NOW the most vocal about how BAD the Gov’t is and how their freedoms are being taken away (name me 1 you’ve lost)… History has always shown that you will have nuts that hate and fear anything they don’t understand…and History as equally shown that you can’t stop progress… Thank God!!
JTK
February 5th, 2013
3:23 pm
I think the Post Office should run the free internet!
Union
February 5th, 2013
3:24 pm
@ Christopher Seward …. err.. fact check much?
Marty
February 5th, 2013
3:27 pm
So when our President gets pissed with us because we maybe do not agree with one of his policies, i.e. Obamacare, he can ground us and take away our internet. I believe the gov’t has its hand in enough already. I would rather pay the high prices I currently pay.
Rick
February 5th, 2013
3:29 pm
So who you going to call when your “service” goes down? Like anything else the government gets it’s hands on, they will screw it up. When you go to a McDonald’s and the line is too long, you can go across the street to the Burger King. When the government monopolizes internet connectivity, they will use it to spy on you and they don’t give a damn about customer service. Ever seen a short line at the post office?
Reverie
February 5th, 2013
3:30 pm
Obama dun giv me the free Internets! This is another scheme of the left to force the working class to subsidize the worthless class. Yep. Worthless. Drains on production. Drains on society. Drains on the safety, security and most of all prosperity of the nation. The more “free” the government controls, the more we sell our souls to mother government. Anyone that claims otherwise amounts to just another leach, a human Remora. You are content to ride along doing nothing and getting everything handed to you. You have completely de-incentivized success to the point the US is now a bad place to do business. The sad thing is that I actually do think our government has an obligation to help those that cannot help themselves. However, I am tired of being asked, as a working person, to supplement those that will not work. Right now there are four signs seeking employees to take on low wage jobs. When I was unemployed I took those jobs in order to work my way out of poverty. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth nor was I allowed to accept charity. If I take charity it steals it from those that cannot help themselves. Almost fifty percent of our nation thinks that is just fine. I’m ashamed of you. Comment or don’t about what I have just written. It does not change the fact that I am right. Your greatest nightmare is those of us that actually producing withdrawing our income by retiring. That reality is coming soon. They thieving class will have to devour itself at that point.
Glenn
February 5th, 2013
3:34 pm
Thanks Jon . Insightful read .
Oy!
February 5th, 2013
3:34 pm
Amazed no one’s thought to comment on the health risk this could have – WOW! Who needs a pulse anyway. (o.O)
L-Dorrado
February 5th, 2013
3:35 pm
So when our President gets pissed with us because we maybe do not agree with one of his policies, i.e. Obamacare, he can ground us and take away our internet. I believe the gov’t has its hand in enough already. I would rather pay the high prices I currently pay.
I still waiting for him to make Arabic the official Language, Islam the official Religion, and putting white people in the fields to pick cotton…i mean that IS what we were told that he would be doing…. what’s Taking him so long?! Darn…. Socialist, Marxist, Communist, Racist, Activist, ageist, economist, adventurist, novelist, Kenyan president…
Brasstown
February 5th, 2013
3:39 pm
Yes, and the interstate highway system was just a way for the government to get access to you quicker to steal your children in the middle of the night.
The paranoid responses here are just embarrassing.
dean
February 5th, 2013
3:43 pm
More Free Stuff!!!
Run like hell from this idea.
L-Dorrado
February 5th, 2013
3:45 pm
“Yes, and the interstate highway system was just a way for the government to get access to you quicker to steal your children in the middle of the night.”
CLASSIC!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! no wonder so many are pushing back on background/mental checks for Guns…. people aren’t even remotely qualified to be walking around with the general populus let along carry deadly weapons.
Reverie
February 5th, 2013
3:45 pm
Call it what you will, Brasstown. Your comparison is lame. Unless the government had a way to fold the interstate highway system each night, they are hard pressed to keep us off of it. Let me help you understand this, my technologically backward friend. Internet access is turned off or throttled at the click of a mouse. Also, the Internet is already used to track people. The government freely acknowledges this. You may want to sell your soul for free internet but have the decency to not sell the souls of your children.
Intellectually Superior
February 5th, 2013
3:47 pm
Well, Look Closer, I want the highways closed and my money back then, because those people use the roads too!
You are in fact the whiny, entitled, victim mentality that I was referring to. I speak of innovation and value. You speak of dropouts and welfare mom’s. Do you see patterns emerging in your small mind as your world closes in? Can you find a new meme?
Sorry to wreck your theory, I am a conservative. Let me enlighten you. Socialism is when the government controls the means of production and determines prices, ok? I have owned two businesses (with employees) and am quite aware and fond of capitalism. It’s created more opportunities than any other economic system. It also created a thing called monopolies, which “the government” (i.e. the people of this fine country) had to break up. (oil, steel, railroads, movie studios, telecommunications). It created child labor and safety abuses around which laws had to be made so children could flourish in school instead and men wouldn’t fall into vats of wax. Capitalism is not manna from heaven, it requires thoughtful implementation. Not you are using your capital in any way that will benefit our country. Not that you would risk a thing, to make the world a better place as I and other entrepreneurs do every day. (entrepreneur: that’s just a fancy elitist word for business person who doesn’t wait for someone to “give” them a job.)
Capitalists did not make any of the programs I mentioned in my earlier post without the explicit backing and subsidy of citizen’s tax dollars. That’s just a simple fact that you can be mad about tonight while you seethe over your 401k and the welfare moms on facebook.
Johnny Craven
February 5th, 2013
3:50 pm
OK being a tech all sounds nice but issues that will come up 1.) $178 BILLION is not FREE that is paid for by the tax payers so no it is not free 2.) Big government control of the internet means government control over the internet … the net is watching you (well it is already now anywho) 3.) Gvt can have control over what sites to show and what to block … no thanks I will pay my $60 a month for my internet thank you
T DOG
February 5th, 2013
3:50 pm
I have studied to be a Networking Consultant, and I have found that AT&T and Verizon stole the governments money the last time they were supposed to upgrade our internet access and broadband. If you go to Europe, where they invested in networks about a decade ago, their speed is about 5 times faster than our “high speed” is. It’s time for us to move into the 21st century and it’s time for the monopolies of communication giants to end.
L-Dorrado
February 5th, 2013
3:51 pm
Intellectually Superior…. Hate inhibits the ability to reason….
“To those that know, no explanation is needed, to those that don’t no explanation will suffice.”
However keep up the good work!!
Johnny Craven
February 5th, 2013
3:52 pm
Another add on … are we not already out of IP Addresses .. this will make it even worse …. can we say denial of service
Joey M
February 5th, 2013
3:53 pm
This would do 2 things. First, it would mean we get to pay even more in taxes. Second, it would give the government access to what we look at on the web. This is a very bad idea. When will the Liberals and big brother stop this intrusion and give us laissez faire???
Phil Baker
February 5th, 2013
3:53 pm
I am sure the democrats and obama will love the idea. It will allow them to stay connected to their constituents who dont pay for anything else. Add free wifi to their free cell phone, so the can contact the food stamp agency and apply for free housing. All for the price of a vote. LOL We have become a welfare state.
L-Dorrado
February 5th, 2013
3:54 pm
Hate is something else…. No matter WHAT is going on with whatever…they can ALWAYS tie it back to Government…. “Man I think I’m coming down with a cold” Yeah I went to CVS the other day and I noticed they had cameras up EVERYWHERE, even by the bathroom door…. Never noticed them having that many……….(wait for it)……………. Until Obama got into office. Sigh….. big gov’t looking over everyone’s shoulder nowadays and sticking it’s nose in ALL of our business….. this isn’t my Dad’s America anymore.
lexi3
February 5th, 2013
3:55 pm
Quote du jour: “Republicans are always worrying about who is paying for something.”
No such thing as “free.” Depends on who is being forced to pay. What we can be sure of is that once the government makes it “free,” the true costs will be hidden and magnified. And, yes, you can bet that the government will control content. The Obama administration has an open war declared on Fox now. It will only get worse folks. While the parasitic class dances a jig, John Peter Zenger and Tom Paine will roll over in their graves.
ITS ALL BUSH"S FAULT
February 5th, 2013
3:56 pm
Only an inbred red state tool would look at this as something bad for the people… get a life con losers…
erik
February 5th, 2013
3:57 pm
GOVERNMENT WASTE!!!!!!
JD
February 5th, 2013
3:58 pm
Be sure that it will not be free. Someone has to pay and in this case it will be the taxpayers paying for one more effort to supplant capitalism with socialism. But look on the bright side all of you folks who want a free ride; Big Brother will finally arrive in the form of a government network that can record, monitor and track every movement, conversation and thought.
Billy
February 5th, 2013
3:59 pm
After the liberals have made such a mess of this country, we’re going to entrust to them yet another responsibility? Great Idea! BTW, all you leftists who don’t know, yet talk down to those that do, “free” internet will have a cost. You can whip out all your liberal calculators, but the real math says it all. Someone will have to pay, more than likely the responsible taxapayer, not the irresponsible person who made all the wrong decisions in life and now thinks it’s “unfair” if someone makes more money than he doesn, regardless of any other factors. Yeah, you idiots have all the answers; that’s why we’re running zero deficits and have full employment, because you people know everything. Next subject…
L-Dorrado
February 5th, 2013
4:01 pm
Big Brother will finally arrive in the form of a government network that can record, monitor and track every movement, conversation and thought.
Already done…it’s called the patriot act. The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001.
Mike
February 5th, 2013
4:08 pm
I say lets get it going, but the service providers will have there way and everyone will probably end up spending twice as much for service. CAPITALISM!
Mark
February 5th, 2013
4:09 pm
Bad idea! How could free Wi-Fi possibly be construed to be a valid role for the federal government? And who pays? You do. Can we afford another give-away program? No. Why don’t we have our federal government fix its current spending problems before we think up ways to add to that problem and to extend the role of the federal government into places it does not belong and has not been before!
L-Dorrado
February 5th, 2013
4:11 pm
“I say lets get it going, but the service providers will have there way and everyone will probably end up spending twice as much for service. CAPITALISM!”
Short memories…… capitalism ran amuck from 2001-2009…. me and my 401K had our fill thank you very much…
Joey M
February 5th, 2013
4:14 pm
@ITS ALL BUSH”S FAULT Not anymore. It’s Obama’s fault. That idiot is a disgrace to the people of America. You are a disgrace to your family for making such ignorant comments.
“Only an inbred red state tool would look at this as something bad for the people”
Really? An “inbred red state”? Let’s look at blue states. Michigan and California. Michigan has had Liberalism run rampant since the 1960’s. There has not been a Republican to hold any seat with power in almost 50 years. What does Michigan look like today? What about Detroit? You use words like “inbred” to describe Georgia. I will use words like “ignorant” and “racist” to describe states that are blue. Voting for someone solely because of the color of their skin is racist and wrong. Hopefully one day you will take a reading comprehension class (this is where you learn how to understand what you read) and you will see the light. I say hopefully because I also say “Hopefully I’ll win the Lottery”. I don’t play so it’s impossible. I doubt you have the intellectual capacity to understand anything but “handout”, “food stamps”, and “free stuff”.
L-Dorrado
February 5th, 2013
4:17 pm
question to people labeling others a Liberals…. “Who on earth is 100% liberal or 100% conservative about everything? On some things I have very conservative views and with other things I have liberal views, but I don’t know anyone that is 100% in either direction. Not a very smart label to place on anyone… regardless of your political ideology…
ATLJono
February 5th, 2013
4:26 pm
I think many are missing the point. I highly doubt this is about the government creating a massive new wifi per se. What’s interesting here is what will our access to the internet look like in 10-20 years? Is every aspect of our lives going to be wired in some way? What kind of universal service will be needed to support that? Why does internet servce need to come from the phone and cable companies? Is this going to be more like turning on the radio? Or the air traffic control network… or the National Weather Service? Something that’s just there that we don’t even think about… In a short period of time we’ve gone from dial up to ISDN to wifi, could something like this be the next big leap?
creative
February 5th, 2013
4:26 pm
This article is just another reason to get lazy LIBS and moronic CONS calling each other names on a post. Please go back and read LANE’S comment on the first page. When you read it (you wan’t understand it unless you are in the industry) you can stop commenting. Actually let’s just keep calling one another names. You commie liberal nazi neocon. There I feel much better. Thanks Fox and MSNBC for creating these mindless people in chat rooms.
Nativebird
February 5th, 2013
4:28 pm
This country is going to hades in a hand basket. Once and for all: NOTHING IS FOR FREE. real Americans, those that work and provide for themselves have always known this. Tis is just another way for these sleazy power hungry bearuacrats to take more of your freedom away. These people believe THEY are Gods. That’s because they have no God.
L-Dorrado
February 5th, 2013
4:30 pm
ATLJono…. for people that would like to turn the clock back to 1950 no…but for the rest of us yes. The cost of technology decreases, and this has so many benefits …..it’s crazy. REAL time smart traffic updates, Smart Cars, news, video broadcasting, next level navigation, etc etc……
MrLiberty
February 5th, 2013
4:34 pm
Nothing is free. There is nothing about this proposal that has anything to do with the free market. There have been absolutely NO safety studies whatsoever regarding this kind of penetrating emission technology. The last people who should have their hands in this pie is the government. Private businesses should be able to purchase bandwidth and should have to fully develop, insure the safety of, and be held liable for any damages related to this technology.
As it currently stands, it sounds like just another typical government vote-buying scheme at the expense of the productive sector of society.
Intellectually Superior
February 5th, 2013
4:41 pm
You know, there IS a socialist party active here in the US. Why don’t all you people crying about socialism find out what THEY think? hmm?
You people griping about socialism:
a) can’t be bothered to click to a dictionary because your brain would explode.
b) are the ones screeching that government owes us more jobs. (but not government jobs!)
c) are the same crowd screeching that Obama isn’t doing anything about gas prices.
You’re all a bunch of tools at best. Anti-American at worst. If it were up to me you’d all be sent to privatized prisons for conversion therapy and a spanking or two. Obviously, someone spared the rod on you whiny pieces o’ S. And I’m positive not one of you have come up with a single innovation in your lives and won’t ever. Yep someone else is going to do all the heavy lifting for you to make this country great again… all you have to do is get up in the morning and get to that job someone GAVE you.
You wouldn’t risk a day or a dime or a bead of sweat to create some value for the good of America. You are mentally impoverished. You’re a taker. Go look in the mirror and repeat. “I hate myself” 100x
East Cobb RINO, Inc (LLC)
February 5th, 2013
4:42 pm
I guess it comes down to who do you want sniffing your packets? Greedy big business? Or corrupt Big Brother?
L-Dorrado
February 5th, 2013
4:43 pm
Intellectually Superior (Standing Ovation) You DID that!!
hryder
February 5th, 2013
4:45 pm
Anyone who currently pays the bills of the moocher class knows that it is our wallets that will be thinner since there is little incentive to pay your own way when one sells his/her vote in exchange for “free stuff” because it is the moochers’ right to the “free stuff”, just ask the Big O.
Intellectually Superior
February 5th, 2013
4:49 pm
Haha, thanks L, I’ve seen you’re posts. You can take a bow as well.
Archie
February 5th, 2013
4:50 pm
Come on people, don’t get your hopes up! This article if full of holes. The most blatant hole in this story is that the technology this article is describing is NOT the same thing as “Wi-Fi”. The term WiFi is local to the building where you’re located. You wirelessly connect to the building’s LAN, and that LAN shares one internet connection for all users in the building. The building owner pays for however much connection speed they need for the number of users in the building. The “Super Wi-Fi” described in this article is nothing more than “mobile broadband”, which is the technology that cellphones and smartphones work through. That’s the 2G, 3G, 4G technology, which we obviously already have and it’s obviously not free. This “Super WiFi” would be a competitor to, not a replacement for, the cellphone companies and internet service providers. It would not be free because those cellular towers don’t just build themselves, and that radio frequency don’t just broadcast itself.