NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] FCC's broadband plan critiqued as overly broad, unfeasible
----- Forwarded message from David Farber <dave@farber.net> ----- Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 20:52:25 -0500 From: David Farber <dave@farber.net> Subject: [IP] FCC's broadband plan critiqued as overly broad, unfeasible Reply-To: dave@farber.net To: ip <ip@v2.listbox.com> Begin forwarded message: From: dewayne@warpspeed.com (Dewayne Hendricks) Date: March 4, 2010 4:53:27 AM EST To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy@warpspeed.com> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] FCC's broadband plan critiqued as overly broad, unfeasible FCC's broadband plan critiqued as overly broad, unfeasible The National Broadband Plan already appears to be impossibly broad and technologically difficult to roll out, based on what's known about the proposal so far, several analysts said Tuesday. "Congress is not going to spend any time with this plan, because it won't get any of the elected officials re-elected, so they'll just get a five-minute overview from their staffs and pass over it," said analyst and consultant Andrew Seybold, who is writing his own national plan to address the expansion of broadband services to urban and rural areas. Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates, said that whatever Congress gets from the FCC needs to be "broken into stages rather than being put into a big omnibus bill, because, frankly, Congress can't get a big omnibus bill right. You are not just talking about technology here; you are talking about politics." Seybold said the upcoming National Broadband Plan needs to focus on only a few top priorities instead of being so broad. One priority, he said, should be faster Internet connections to rural areas. "Giving 100 Mbit/sec connections to Google customers is irrelevant," he said, referring to Google's plans to test fiber optic connections with ultra-fast speeds. "Why are we talking about 100 Mbit/sec service to 100 million people when some people would kill for 700 Kbit/sec?" Seybold wants five tiers of service for Internet speeds available to all Americans, with those currently without Internet connections to get at least the lowest tier of service, ranging from 500 Kbit/sec to 1 Mbit/sec. The top tier would be for 50 Mbit/sec and greater connections. Because no carrier is going to bear the cost of rural connections everywhere, Seybold suggested that the FCC urge Congress to take proceeds from any auction of unused TV spectrum and apply it toward rural broadband construction. Currently, the FCC's spectrum money must go toward retiring the national debt. Seybold noted that $50 billion raised from a TV spectrum auction would only pay off the amount of national debt incurred in two weeks. "Let's forget paying off the national debt with the auctions," he said. Seybold said any focus on universal broadband access needs to be on rural areas. Some urban areas, while underserved, do not qualify for federal subsidies since there are at least 10 private ISPs nationwide who are attacking the urban digital divide with affordable plans. Seybold and other analysts said that many of the broadband issues the FCC has addressed might not require congressional action, although one area in need of legislation stands out. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration oversees much of the nation's electromagnetic spectrum -- even more than the FCC does, Seybold noted. <http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9164718/FCC_s_broadband_plan_critiqued_as_overly_broad_unfeasible?source=rss_news> Courtesy of the Benton Foundation <http://www.benton.org>RSS Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress> ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ----- End forwarded message -----