Wireless Internet

House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr.

This paper explains why most nations refused to endorse key United States 5G spectrum allocation proposals at the International Telecommunication Union’s 2015 World Radio Conference. US representatives underestimated the time needed for consensus building, despite increasing demand for wireless video and the evolving Internet of Things.

Over the last few months, various ideas have been floated about the offering of 5G wireless services via a government-sponsored network.  This entire effort seems convoluted and borders on the preposterous.  Just the notion of the U.S.

In written testimomny before the Senate Committee On Appropriations' Subcommittee On Financial Services And General Government, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai outlined the commission's priorities for the next year:

Even as many aspects of the digital divide have narrowed over time, the digital lives of lower- and higher-income Americans remain markedly different. 

House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) confirmed that anxiety over Chinese telecom giants’ wireless advances could creep into House lawmakers’ must-pass defense policy legislation. “There might be a couple things on 5G that we include,” said Chairman Smith.

Nearly five dozen rural, wireless internet service providers (WISPs) signed letters sent to the Federal Communications Commission to "express [their] enthusiastic support for the Commission to make available new Educational Broadband Service (EBS) licenses to educators via priority licensing windows." The small ISPs also "strongly oppose auctions of EBS spectrum before educators have had an opportunity to obtain new EBS licenses."  In an April 25 letter to the FCC, six rural operators argued for a requirment that EBS spectrum licensees and their partners have a local presence and adhere to

I know firsthand what it’s like living on the wrong side of the digital divide because my local community in rural Minnesota has been experiencing it for far too long. That is one of the reasons why I founded A Better Wireless, a wireless ISP that is seeking to connect rural Minnesotans who lack affordable broadband access. 

In the summer of 2018, Verizon Wireless triggered a major controversy in the public safety community when it temporarily reduced Internet service to firefighters in Santa Clara (CA) greatly diminishing their ability to provide emergency services while fighting the Mendocino Complex fire — one of the largest in state history.