Government Wants to Create Free Public 'Super Wi-Fi'

[Straight Shooter]

Looking for public Wi-Fi in your town or city? The hunt may be about to get easier: the Federal Communications Commission is reportedly considering the development of free and public "super Wi-Fi" networks across the United States.

The proposal, first reported by The Washington Post, would require local television stations and broadcasters to sell wireless spectrum to the government. The government would then use that spectrum to build public Wi-Fi networks.

The public networks would be much stronger than average by virtue of the spectrum used to build them —their signal would hypothetically travel for long distances and penetrate thick walls and other objects.

The plan has immense disruptive potential: If successful, it could cause many people to cancel their cellular and Internet plans in favor of connecting to the Internet via the free public Wi-Fi networks.

Many of the major cell phone carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Qualcomm, are reportedly lobbying hard against the proposal. Their argument? The FCC should auction the spectrum to businesses instead of forcing its sale to the government. Some of those companies are also claiming the hypothetical network might cause interference with local broadcasts.

Google and Microsoft, meanwhile, have partnered up in a rare move to support the public Wi-Fi networks. They argue that national Wi-Fi networks would spark a wave of gadgetry innovation. Both companies also manufacture myriad devices or platforms which would benefit from massive public Wi-Fi networks, from Google's Android operating system to Microsoft's Windows Phone and Xbox gaming consoles.

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski has come down in favor of Google and Microsoft's argument.

"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," said Genachow*ski in a statement e-mailed to The Washington Post.

The plan could also serve as a boon to underserved communities, members of whom often use smartphones as their on-ramp to the Internet.

The five-member FCC panel has yet to vote on the proposal. Mashable has reached out to the FCC for comment and will update this post with any response.

Should the government provide massive free Wi-Fi networks? Share your thoughts in the comments.

http://mashable.com/2013/02/04/public-wifi-networks/

Interesting. This is exactly what this country needs, internet speed in the U.S lags behind many countries and so its about damn time we enter the 21st century. What do you guys think?

 

[Mayhem]

So everyone gets free internet? Shit yeah, I'm all for it. :thumbsup:

 

[guranteedseed1]

So..... the government would control everyone's internet and be the only internet provider. Sounds bad.

 

[Straight Shooter]

So..... the government would control everyone's internet and be the only internet provider. Sounds bad.

Seriously? dude read the article

 

[lurkingdirk]

I'm all for this. The only thing that makes me nervous is security. It's a bad idea to do your online banking, for example, in a wifi zone provided at a coffee house, for example. How would this be more secure?

 

[Mayhem]

I'm all for this. The only thing that makes me nervous is security. It's a bad idea to do your online banking, for example, in a wifi zone provided at a coffee house, for example. How would this be more secure?

I think the trade off would be making it your responsibility to make your computer more secure. And this would be some of the emerging technology that this proposal would encourage.

 

[JaanaRuutu]

I think this is an awesome idea. i feel like in this day and age the internet should be considered a "human right" of sorts.

 

[Will E Worm]

the hypothetical network might cause interference with local broadcasts.

More tax money to pay for this and the fact that Wi fi is not good for security reasons.

No, just no.

 

[Mayhem]

More tax money to pay for this and the fact that Wi fi is not good for security reasons.

No, just no.

Of course. Find something that everyone else thinks is a good idea, and we hardy need Cupcake to bother giving an opinion.

With the prevalence of job applications and educational opportunities being online these days, this would benefit the working poor that all the Right wingers on here focus so much of their hate on. But no, let's not make job seeking easier for poor people. Will has spoken.

 

[Will E Worm]

I agree. Not only is it a luxury item that is important, but it's too important for the government to control. Can you imagine the security implications and headaches a network like this would have? There are so many technical, economic and legal unintended consequences to this, it's not even funny. If the government might do anything (and even here I'm skeptical), they should help make sure that the current private means of getting on the 'net remain competitive and sooner than later, cheap Internet in many different forms will be ubiquitous without the unintended consequences that only a government can create.

I predict this will also be a new avenue for the US federal government to regulate the Internet into oblivion. This is a setup for a massive new power grab.

Link

This could be the way they try to control and censor the Internet with the FCC.

Horrible idea.

 

[JaanaRuutu]

Yeah, and I COULD fall in the shower tomorrow and die. So I shouldn't shower anymore.

 

[Will E Worm]

Of course. Find something that everyone else thinks is a good idea, and we hardy need Cupcake to bother giving an opinion.

With the prevalence of job applications and educational opportunities being online these days, this would benefit the working poor that all the Right wingers on here focus so much of their hate on. But no, let's not make job seeking easier for poor people. Will has spoken.

Not everything should be done on the net.

People need to get up and go look for jobs instead of playing on the net all day long.
Also, there are libraries they can go to.

It took me awhile to buy my first computer and get the net.

Others can wait and do this on their own.

 

[Will E Worm]

Yeah, and I COULD fall in the shower tomorrow and die. So I shouldn't shower anymore.

Bad analogy. Control and censorship are not like falling in the bath tub. :tongue:

You need Lift Alert.

 

[Mayhem]

Not everything should be done on the net.

People need to get up and go look for jobs instead of playing on the net all day long.
Also, there are libraries they can go to.

It took me awhile to buy my first computer and get the net.

Others can wait and do this on their own.

It's not a choice that the people have. It's what the employers want and the way they structure it. I can walk a 5 minute radius around my home and LOOK at many of the casinos that I'm qualified to work at. But going to them is pointless. I HAVE to fill out an online application and hope for a reply. What you said above is what I used to think, so I'm not being argumentative here. The workplace has changed and people have to change with it. And in this "modern" world, the working poor and the unemployed need an extra hand.

How is going to the library less of a security concern? Hell, government agencies and major corporations are getting hacked on a regular basis. Your local library is a bastion of internet security? And tell someone working 2-3 jobs and raising kids to just go to the library. Libraries have operational hours. The internet is 24/7.

 

[JaanaRuutu]

For the record, my old room mate in the US used to walk around town every day in his nicest clothes, sometimes he'd drive around, going into stores and businesses asking if they're hiring. Every single one of them told him he needed to go online, even local places. If you're unemployed and don't have access to the internet you're super fucked. It's like that here as well, though internet access is much, much cheaper here.

 

[sean miguel]

Yeah, and I COULD fall in the shower tomorrow and die. So I shouldn't shower anymore.

Bad analogy. Control and censorship are not like falling in the bath tub. :tongue:

You need Lift Alert.

WTF is lift alert? lol yeah I know what you meant. It was also a bad analogy because generally speaking, europeans wash themselves less frequently thereby reducing the odds of slipping in the shower and dying.

 

[Mayhem]

For the record, my old room mate in the US used to walk around town every day in his nicest clothes, sometimes he'd drive around, going into stores and businesses asking if they're hiring. Every single one of them told him he needed to go online, even local places. If you're unemployed and don't have access to the internet you're super fucked. It's like that here as well, though internet access is much, much cheaper here.

Exactly right. When I auditioned for my first WSOP, I met a guy who I became friends with for the rest of the Series (then never saw him again...as it happens). He told me about how he had filled out online apps for every casino in town with a Poker Room and was waiting. I gave the same advice the Will is saying. Hoof it, go to each room, seek out the manager and make a good impression. He gave me a very quizzical look and basically blew off my advice. Well, now I know that he was right and I was wrong. Going "old-school" would have been nothing but a waste of gas and time.

I'm not saying that I like it this way, but it is what it is.

 

[lurkingdirk]

Stop, everyone. Will has an opinion, and it has been stated as fact. In his mind, therefore, it is a fact.

You can't argue with facts.

 

[ApolloBalboa]

I'd personally like to go back to the days of dial-up. Nothing beats the static crackle and knowing that you're tying up your phone line for hours on end.

 

[Will E Worm]

It's not a choice that the people have. It's what the employers want and the way they structure it. I can walk a 5 minute radius around my home and LOOK at many of the casinos that I'm qualified to work at. But going to them is pointless. I HAVE to fill out an online application and hope for a reply. What you said above is what I used to think, so I'm not being argumentative here. The workplace has changed and people have to change with it. And in this "modern" world, the working poor and the unemployed need an extra hand.

How is going to the library less of a security concern? Hell, government agencies and major corporations are getting hacked on a regular basis. Your local library is a bastion of internet security? And tell someone working 2-3 jobs and raising kids to just go to the library. Libraries have operational hours. The internet is 24/7.

They have a choice. The library. Also, if they are poor they need to be trying to learn and get better jobs.

Wi Fi is not secure. They need to go to the library. You have reading problems.

WTF is lift alert? lol yeah I know what you meant. It was also a bad analogy because generally speaking, europeans wash themselves less frequently thereby reducing the odds of slipping in the shower and dying.

Life Alert is the medical braclet you wear and can call for help if you're sick or fall.

I'd personally like to go back to the days of dial-up. Nothing beats the static crackle and knowing that you're tying up your phone line for hours on end.

I like my broadband better.