Senators ask FCC to prioritize action on broadband white space, FCC promises nothing
By Laura June 
posted June 17th 2010 11:52AM
posted June 17th 2010 11:52AM
Senators John Kerry (D - MA) and Olympia Snowe (R - Maine) have written a letter to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski asking them to prioritize actions on broadband white space while adhering to the scheduled Broadband Action Agenda, finishing it up by the third quarter of 2010. The national broadband plan includes 360 recommendations, with the white space action being just one of them. The letter reminded the commission that it's been about two years since it first authorized the use of white space, which would allow the use of unused television channels for wireless broadband.
Oh really? FCC wants a little net neutrality and you shut them down,
now YOU want something?? LOL
@CJisohsocool
Funny how that works huh?
@CJisohsocool I believe that net neutrality shouldn't be implemented. And before I'm down-ranked into oblivion, hear me out.
It limits the capitalist market. And as base consumers, we all think, "oh, well, that's nice! They won't limit my YouTube." But it also means that all the companies become closer together in terms of the services they offer. It makes a bunch of companies with the same product, making it harder for them to compete. With no net-neutrality, a company can limit the sites that they want to, and if consumers get angry, they can go to another company that doesn't limit them. And if all the companies limit stuff, then that means it offers a vantage point for a new start-up to possibly come into the market, challenging the other companies, driving up the competition and consumer experience, and driving down the prices for consumers.
I believe though, that when purchasing an internet provider's service, one should be shown or should be able to inquire about what websites/web-services they throttle.
All in all, this would drive up the competition and experience, drive down the prices, and gives the consumers more intelligence over what they are providing. This is better than trying to limit giant companies that may or may not listen.
@Archon The problem is these companies don't use it as an opportunity for healthy competition. If one starts cutting corners others just follow suit. It saves them a quick buck, maximizes profits. I heard horror stories about Comcast throttling and was sitting there thinking, "Good thing I'm with Cox. They just beefed up and rebuilt much of their network with fiberoptic lines and whatnot here. We should be getting a boost in stability and speed soon!"
A few months later what happens? They start throttling. And not just light throttling of a small group that uses disproportionately large chunks of bandwidth regularly. Download an online purchased game a few gig in size and you'll be sitting under DSL speeds for the rest of the day.
It would be great if some upstart could just step in and offer a better service but that is FAR easier said than done. The big boys are much too in control for that to be a viable option. Some smaller upstart can't compete.
net neutrality was done from the get go since nobody is gonna win the lobbying battle against the telecomm companies
Glad to see it's a bipartisan effort. Although I really dislike the behavior of most of the heavily partisan "waterloo" Republicans in the Senate, I like Snowe. She isn't afraid to vote with Democrats on issues she knows her constituents would want her to side with Democrats on. It's too bad Republicans dislike her so much, calling her a "RINO" and such. If they ever try to push her out, I hope she runs as an independent and joins Crist, Lieberman and Sanders in the Senate.
@bernardino
It is sad, we need more people that vote for what they believe in instead of what the party believes is good.
@pur
+1.
For those who forget, TVBDs (whitespace devices), when tested, knocked out *cable* TV from a few feet away, not to mention knocking out wireless mics, and TV from other markets (no Boston channels for you Philly folks with big aerials).
The approval, slid in by the oh-so-slimy Kevin Martin on *election* night, 2008, presumably to drown its significance in presidential news, is technically unsound.
Besides, anyone else remember the un-auctioned D block of spectrum? Why not uncork that for unlicensed use? Before the "just watch TV on the internet" people chime in with their usual inanity, run the numbers on individuals doing point-to-point wireless transmission of video instead of broadcast. If you run the numbers (and you're not trolling), you're unlikely to come back with the same view of the feasibility of such an approach in the near term.