White House opposes FCC’s plan for free, nationwide wireless broadband

By on Dec 11, 2008 at 4:54 PM
News December 11, 2008

After the whole controversy over the usage of the White Space spectrum had been given the thumbs up by the FCC, we thought that free, nationwide wireless Internet access was a given. Not so fast says the White House. The FCC was going to vote as early as next week on a plan to auction 25 megahertz of spectrum in the 2155MHz to 2180MHz band. According to the FCC’s plan, those who purchase a license to use this spectrum would be required to offer free wireless broadband service. The White House disagreed with the requirement that licensees had to offer free service and voiced its objection in a letter written by Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez saying:

“The administration believes that the (airwaves) should be auctioned without price or product mandate. The history of FCC spectrum auctions has shown that the potential for problems increases in instances where licensing is overly prescriptive or designed around unproven business models.”

The FCC is reportedly reviewing the letter and has publicly stated that, though it does agree that “market forces should drive competition”, it also believes “providing free basic broadband to consumers is a good thing.” Perhaps the White House is considering how well the free market system is working in every other industry these days when making this assessment…

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  • raul

    Can’t wait till they make it the black house and fix this junk admin!

  • drbyers

    youse mean i can has free interwebs!?

  • bob

    Makes sense. Think about the opportunity cost. Sell the spectrum use it to pay for things people really need, like health care.

  • StevenGlansburg

    I don’t think any of us want the incompetent government to have control over any more aspects of our lives and that includes our ability to connect to wifi.. Politicians are simply not knowledgeable enough in regards to anything besides exchanging money and buying hookers.

    And again the FCC proves useless for anything besides censoring content.

  • nka

    Well, the current administration actually opposes a “mandate” on free broadband. They are Republican afterall, and mandates don’t fit in with Republican ideology of free markets. Then again, neither to Socialist bail outs and nationalization of private enterprises!

  • Priscilla

    I think at this point everything the white house says should just be ignored until the new administration moves in. Just nod and continue what you’re doing.

  • Verizon Guy

    This is just semantics. Whether there’s a “free” requirement or not, there’s a 99.9% likelihood that Google gobbles it all up and provides free access either way.

  • Crunch

    Whatever. Just wait until the new administration and our new chief, and Internet-savvy, President-elect gets into office.

    Bush is just hell bent on destroying every last part of our country. 39 days, folks! :D

  • Jeff

    Amen. Enough of this White House and their “free market” ideology. Let’s get on with reviewing all the great gadgetry coming from Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea.

  • Bean

    wow! makes no sense. i guess bush and they WANT to be hated in their last few hitler days. its free internet for america!! its a very good idea.

    [jay-z]i thought this was america ppl [/jay-z]

  • kidqwik

    Maybe Obama will tell everyone that fee WiFi is what he meant when he told everyone they’d get a free unicorn if they voted for him. Some people are still going to want the unicorn though. Especially those who are fans of the movie Legend with Tom Cruise

  • Priscilla

    Dang! Legend is way old! I personally thought it was horrible, but to each their own. :-P

  • Adam

    I think way too many people have a vision in their heads that as soon as Obama is sworn in free money will fall from the sky, all diseases will be cured, and all crime and homelessness will come to an end. You’re just setting up for disappointment. I think he will make a big positive difference, but in fairness to the man let’s keep expectations in check. Don’t overestimate how big of a puzzle piece the President is. There are many, many other public officials that our prosperity depends on. Like maybe our congress can spend all of their time on real government issues instead of things like steroids.

  • http://www.themeanpost.com themeanpost.com

    internet should be free, i hate paying for the internet.

    http://www.themeanpost.com

  • n0kx

    it’s not the job of government to provide us with internet access.

    get out, get a job, and buy access yourself.

  • ilikephonesthatwork

    Obviously I disagree with the letter coming from the White House on this issue, but the mentality of the last sentence in your post Kelly should go away faster than the current administration! WOW!

  • RAS

    StevenGlansburg Said:

    I don’t think any of us want the incompetent government to have control over any more aspects of our lives and that includes our ability to connect to wifi.. Politicians are simply not knowledgeable enough in regards to anything besides exchanging money and buying hookers.

    And again the FCC proves useless for anything besides censoring content.

    Quoted For Truth!

    They might give us free broadband, but then they’ll probably tax us to death on the hardware to pick up a WiFi signal. Imagine a yearly fee to “rent” the WiFi chipset that comes in your laptop.

  • Why?

    #1: Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez
    Whose pocket is his hand in? Please, gov’t doesn’t come up with this crap on their own. They all have industry connections and are easily influenced.

    On the flip side… landlines existed for 100 years now, yet at no point in the last 100 years did anyone say ‘Give Americans free phone lines!’. Of course, they are now considering giving you free landlines bundled with other packages, but that’s just a sign of the times.

    But times DO change. Aren’t we all staring to see that now? You can’t compete and thrive using 50 year old business models. Communication tech is getting faster… we’re getting to the point where if you’re not connected, you are going to fall very far behind.

    But back to the flip side… yeah, think abut HBO vs PBS. That would be the difference between Paid Broadband VS Govt Provided Broadband. Mucho censorship and you can only view what they want you to see by their moral definitions.

  • Ben

    Every child in America deserves the ability to have access to the internet, if buying this spectrum is what Obama needs to get done then let him get it done. Have our Government use it for free in hospitals, schools, libraries and government sectors. It’ll free up our bandwidth and do something good for those in needs. Capitalist or Socialist, this would be good for our country- unless you oppose educating our youth

  • http://www.k5live.com Likeabite

    I have to agree that they need to just let this be passed. We desperately need it, especially since we rank 15th in broadband in the world. Bush just needs to get the hell out.

  • Brad Brown Jr

    This kind of shit pisses me off – at every turn, the ‘powers that be’ are hampering progress. I agree with the FCC here, let the rest of the US join the Broadband World. I think the Internet should be free like OTA TV (Over The Air Television). If folks want higher-speeds and ‘premium’ channels (un-filtered porn and video), then they can pay for better service, like cable TV.

  • M

    You’ve got to be kidding me… what makes you think people “deserve” free WiFi? I agree with the above poster – get a job and pay for your own internet service.

    Also, the “state” already provides free internet access… at public libraries, etc. If you don’t want to pay for it yourself, go there.

    You’re delusional if you think this would actually be free. The government would sell it off under the terms that the buyer provide free WiFi… if the buyer does this they would probably receive certain tax breaks or tax money/subsidies. Where is that money going to come from? From every tax paying person in the US… so again, this would only be free to the leeches of society (much like many of the programs Obama loves)… for the rest of us, it probably ends up costing us more than we pay now for our in-home, private internet.

    And wake up, we haven’t followed the guidelines of a “free market system” for several years now and look what has happened…

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