I was absolutely elated when I heard this story on NPR. Later there were many stories posted about it being “wish fulfillment” or “wishful thinking”. Personally, I don’t think it was either, despite the research done in the above link. I do believe it will happen, possibly not during this presidency, but I believe it will happen in the near future none the less. Why?
- Both the FCC and the general population are pissed at the telco companies paying their CEOs and other leaders obscene amounts of money while tens of thousands of square miles have little to no coverage in their “nationwide coverage” maps.
- The Clinton administration did not live up to its promise of an Information Super Highway for everyone.
- The DOD has trouble keeping super secret bases secret when they have to pay crews to trench miles and miles of cable out to them.
- The Bush era wiretaps without a warrant are still winding their way through news cycles and the legal system.
- By definition, if there are rural communities without high speed Internet access, then there are rural schools also without access.
We will get a nationwide paid-with-tax-dollars wifi. It will be just like the cable Internet many homes get today…oversold with strangled bandwidth when you really want to use it but good when the flu has 80% of the local population in bed.
I am sure contractors and bidders will massively inflate the price, but, the honest answer is that it shouldn’t cost anywhere near the numbers I’ve heard tossed around. You see, there are many abandoned communications towers around the country. The government could easily cease them for pennies on the dollar. Everything is already there. They simply need a hardware upgrade or someone to turn the power back on.
More directly though, the “free nationwide” Internet could be a different bandwidth and run at a higher power. Do you remember those old 3-watt analog cell phones? They had big batteries and in many cases static, but you could be 60 miles from a tower and still make a call.
During my youth I worked for a startup company known as Airfone. While it is true the network is being used to some extent for in-flight movies, the government could easily usurp or purchase the network. Unlike cell towers of today, Airfone actually did cover the country. It had groundstations all over. We used to have a big map showing the location of all groundstations and the coverage circles they provided to airborne customers. While most people wouldn’t pay $10.50 or whatever was being charged for the first 3 minutes of a call, those who did, for most flights, were able to talk the entire flight switching from groundstation to groundstation as they went. Yes, certain flight paths could skirt the edge of many rings and yes, some planes didn’t have the internal antenna maintained, but for the most part, it worked as designed.
How difficult would it be for the government to take over that network, add some frequencies so we didn’t swamp airline frequencies, and increase the power limit to 3-7 watts for the wifi devices which were made for use with the new nationwide “free” wifi service? Granted, they may have to add a groundstation or 3 in the heavily populated areas, but, rural America and the super secret bases would be able to get service the day it went live…instead of waiting 20 years and still not getting cell phone service.
If the government owns the network, they will be able to monitor all of the traffic on it. Those who wish to download kiddie porn, arrange drug deals, or commit other nefarious acts via the Internet will continue to pay for private service…if it is available. The really stupid terrorists will be rounded up inside of a week.
We’ve all heard the stories of travelers who purchased GPS systems with “live” weather and road closure updates so they could avoid being trapped in the mountains during holiday trips, only to spend over a week trapped in a car with an infant. The problem with getting “live” updates is that you have to have a clear signal, either via satellite or wifi. Wouldn’t it be nice if the new “free” nationwide wifi made certain that signal was already there.
Most importantly, the FCC will finally have the muscle to tell telco businesses that they are paying their management too much without putting enough into infrastructure. They will also have the power to tell them they are off-shoring too many jobs. If they refuse to listen the “free” wifi can simply roll out some more software offering more services, like free phone calls, free movie downloads, etc.
Seriously, aren’t we ALL tired of calling “customer service” only to get someone in Korea or some other country who we cannot understand and who is incapable of providing us any actual service? If my tax dollars can put an end to that, they have been well spent!
