Free Wireless Band Gets FCC OK

narramissic writes "Last month the FCC conducted tests to determine whether mobile devices using a new US radio band (2,155 to 2,175 MHz) with free wireless service would cause significant interference with cell phones using a nearby band. Now, the results are in and in a report released Friday, the FCC concluded that 'the analysis shows that an AWS-1 and AWS-3 device operating in close proximity does not necessarily result in interference.' Still, T-Mobile accuses the FCC of basing its conclusions on new assumptions that weren't used when the tests took place. But at least one party is happy: M2Z praised the report, saying 'There is no longer any need for American consumers, the public interest and the FCC's regulatory process to be held hostage as it has been for the last five months by incumbent carriers... who have used unfounded claims of interference to disguise their intent to prevent the introduction of new broadband competition in the AWS-3 band.'"

Any competition is good but..

[aceofspades1217]

All competition is good but really its not really that great. Their internet will be censored and it will only be 300kb/s. It certainly can't hurt but really there is two sides to this story. It really wouldn't be worth the hassle for this somewhat mediocre internet if it causes interference with cell phones.

Re:Any competition is good but..

[theaceoffire]

Yeah, but most people don't even need fast dial up for the amount they do online.

Give all of those "Login, check email, login tomorrow" users free internet, and the only people left with these asshole IP companies will be us real users.

^_^ THEN the IP companies will have to start treating us like we matter, instead of just disconnecting our service if we complain/try to use our service/whatever.

Not to mention, these areas with one provider will actually have competition for the first time.

Re:Any competition is good but..

[Anonymous Coward]

There are plenty of devices (TiVo, MythTV, cars, internet controlled cameras, internet sensors, and a whole bunch of other devices) that can benefit from a free, always on connection.

Lobbyists to the rescue!

[elrous0]

Not to worry, poor telecommunications giants! Lobbyman is here to protect you! The evil FCC got you down? No problem, Lobbyman will buy off Congress to step in an save your gravy train! Sure Lobbyman is expensive, but then a great hero always is. So let the money flow and let the consumer be screwed!

Re:Any competition is good but..

[0100010001010011]

As long as they allow SSH, no censorship.

Interference to PCS phones? What about Sat Radio?

[Anonymous Coward]

So the new free wireless band is 2155-2175. PCS is 1850-1990. Satellite radio is 2320-2345, marginally closer to the new free wireless band than that band is to PCS. Wouldn't satellite radio have more to lose? Sirius and XM users already have to receive a relatively weak signal broadcast from thousands of miles away in outer space by antennas with built in LNA's. Have sufficient studies been done to prove that nearby operation in the new free wireless band will not desense sensitive satellite radio receivers and preclude them from receiving an acceptable signal?

Re:Any competition is good but..

[mrsteveman1]

Can't hurt? Yes, it can.

We're talking about a government approved wireless network they want to reach 95% of the country, while leaving one specific kind of content behind. This is more than just competition, this is a significant force in the market and quite frankly, a transparent attempt to reduce the availability of ONLY porn to a large percentage of the population.

It's also quite unconstitutional for the government to be granting one company the right to censor users while the government profits from that censorship. They want people to look the other way because "it's free", but it isn't free.

This is an ad-supported network, so it isn't free for users at all. I'm still paying for it by viewing those ads. And to accomplish this they are either doing DPI, or targeting by location to deliver ads by modifying traffic (even worse than censoring), or they will force users to install specific software on the machine to access the network.

None of this is acceptable, especially because of the involvement with the government.

Re:Any competition is good but..

[electrictroy]

My first modem at 1.2 k is slow dialup. ;-) My current dialup service uses image/test compression to load a webpage in just a few seconds - same speed as my home DSL connection at 700 kbit/s.

Using dialup is not the great tragedy most people think it is... I even use mine for downloading 70 or 150 megabyte episodes of Stargate Atlantis or Doctor Who. The FCC's proposed "free lifeline wireless" at 300 kbit/s could perform the same task in just half-an-hour.

Need more

[Runaway1956]

broadband and broadband choices in small towns, and in rural America. While the big companies squabble over market shares in the big cities, Ma and Pa Kettle are left with waving a blanket over a smokey fire. The ISPs really need to look at the idea of nation wide coverage. I am an American, and I can only READ about high speed internet!!