FCC boss keeps driving home the 'spectrum, spectrum, spectrum' message for wireless broadband
By Chris Ziegler 
posted December 1st 2009 9:49PM
posted December 1st 2009 9:49PM
Love him or hate him, it seems destined that the FCC's Julius Genachowski will leave as big of a mark on the agency he's leading -- if not bigger -- than his predecessor Kevin Martin did, because he's hell-bent on shaking up the wireless airwaves and landlines he oversees in some pretty huge ways. Pushback from broadcasters is apparently quite strong, but he's reiterated at a conference today that he intends to investigate freeing up TV spectrum for to make room additional wide-area wireless services, a move that certainly seems to make sense on the surface considering that universal broadband to the home -- which could carry all the TV you'd ever need -- is also high on Genachowski's to-do list. The Universal Service Fund, which every American phone subscriber pays into and partly finances rural landline telephone operations where profits are harder to come by, is looking like a ripe target for renovation to bring broadband into the fold, theoretically making high-speed data more accessible to folks of all demographics and geographical affinities. Like the TV spectrum move, the USF realignment is meeting its fair share of detractors -- mainly among rural landline operators who rely on the funds for operation, of course -- but we're definitely gaining confidence that this dude isn't taking "no" for an answer in the long term.
he looks like an aged ferris bueller with vampire k9's. he has to be cool.
@gregorious25
ok thank god I wasnt the only one that thought that, but I did maybe go a little overboard?
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n211/googleadam/Untitled-1.jpg
@gregorious25
That gives me an idea.
"Twilight: A Day Off. "
If only it were true, I could really use one...
now it comes down to what he cares about more: bankrupting companies or wireless broadband
How long will he be in charge of the FCC? Cause I have this feeling that whenever incumbents hate something, they just stall it and hope the next chair scraps any previous initiatives. To this guy's credit, he is moving at a fairly rapid pace but I dunno how much of it will see the light of day.
sexy
So, if I wan to roll back the mileage on a car, can I do the same thing that they did with the ferrari and jack it up and put it in reverse?
SHEET im old because I remember that
This whole wireless spectrum crisis is a bunch of BS. We have enough, people are just using too much data. If wireless data were metered, people would stop streaming YouTube videos all day.
As for rural broadband, I am all for using USF money to bring broadband. Our system is outdated, as there is no need for phone service, but there is a very important need for broadband. It's very backwards that there is even a guarantee that you will get landline service in this day and age, a service that many people are getting rid of because it serves no purpose. That being said, why not just partner with Verizon to offer plans for home service, as they already have the infrastructure in place and operating in many of the areas?
@(Unverified) That must be sarcasm right? I don't even know where to start with a statement like that.
Wait, what??
"his whole wireless spectrum crisis is a bunch of BS. We have enough, people are just using too much data. If wireless data were metered, people would stop streaming YouTube videos all day."
If you weren't commenting on a thread that only affects Americans I would be sure that you were from some distant, Socialist nation and that you don't understand capitalism. If people want to download YouTube videos all day then they can do that! It's America for f*ck's sake!
And more realistically, if Interweb usage was "metered" as you suggest, then people would stop using the internet so much... then companies like Google would lose tons of money... then they'd lay a bunch of people off... then there would be a massive economic meltdown in the entire Bay Area... then - well, you get the idea, right?
What a stupid thing to say "people are just using too much data." What are you? Like 90? I guarantee data usage is only going to get greater and greater... maybe you should go ahead and plug your ears and yell "LALALALALALALA" so you can remain blissfully unaware.
@(Unverified) There is a HUGE difference between mobile data and the internet. I am a staunch supporter of net neutrality, no caps, etc, on land-based connections, where bandwidth is virtually unlimited.
For mobile data, however, there is a limited amount of spectrum, and so long as Verizon and AT&T don't favor their own services over someone else's, they should be allowed to cap, meter and throttle as much as they need to in order to keep the network stable. That being said, they shouldn't be able to charge absurd overages, as that is just being greedy, while throttling when a user hits a cap (say 500MB/mo) is perfectly fine.
People do not need to watch YouTube videos on our valuable spectrum, because people have ACTUAL BUSINESS to do over those same airwaves. Most mobile data is text-based, and using mobile versions of sites and data compression, you don't need to pull much data. This is why EDGE is still relevant, and works great for anything that actually needs to be done on a mobile phone.
Wireline data usage is going to go WAY UP with HD video downloading and streaming, and that's fine. Fiber is the future. Mobile data, however, serves a much more utilitarian purpose, and the carriers should create a model that encourages the responsible use of mobile data, i.e. not streaming video.
Hah, how definitive "It's America for f*ck's sake!" yes, america the well trained self-censoring nation who can't even say 'hell' or 'god' anymore which was no issue in the bleeding uptight 50's and decades before.
Moments of pride exemplified by compliance.
Love him or hate him!
yea yea yea.... another bureaucrat makes a lot of noise that pissed some off and makes others happy...
wont believe anything until i see some action
those eyebrows mean business
He looks like Tony Danza: http://yapabout.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/bigtony.jpg
@mmauve what you said
Man, he looks like and aged Tony Danza
Man, this cannot happen fast enough. We just moved into the boonies and the only thing we can get out here is expensive, crappy satellite internet.
How about requiring a limit on over-subscription ratios on a market-by-market basis?
This would allow broadband providers, both wired and wireless, can continue their neverending quest for subscribers but only if they maintain the required ratio within a given market, and prevents gaming of the system so a 3G tower in Hancock, Maine (population 157) isn't used to skew the aggregate ratio for the carrier's national network. Carriers exceeding the subscriber-to-bandwidth ratio for a given market would be barred from taking on new subscribers in that area until their regional network was brought into compliance.
Sounds like a 7 year plan to get the FCC to control internet, won't that be a joyous day eh.
@Wwhat Australia tried that with a massive internet filter. Poured billions into it, and some 15 year old hacker brought it down in the first couple hours.
it's JOEY!!! How you doin?!
Spectrometers! Spectrometers! Spectrometers!