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story category FCC Scuttling Free Broadband Plan
Upstart says Commission is protecting incumbents
(old news - 09:26AM Thursday Aug 16 2007)
tags: fcc · business · wireless · alternatives · Politics
Tipped by TK Junk Mail See Profile
The FCC is about to scuttle a plan that would offer free wireless broadband Internet service across the majority of the United States. That's according to an upstart outfit named M2Z networks, which wants to offer wholesale wireless broadband access to 95% of the population using a 20MHz chunk of unused spectrum in the 2GHz band.

According to the company FAQ, the operator says they want to offer free, advertisement funded, "family filtered" service at speeds of around 384kbps downstream and 128kbps upstream. The company also plans to offer an unfiltered 3Mbps tier for around $20-$30 a month.

Chairman Martin’s staff is using arguments that are nonsensical, not supported by the evidence in the record, and would not stand the light of day in a court.
M2Z is asking for free access to spectrum in exchange for 5% of the company's profits. As part of the agreement, they'd have to build out the network to 33% of the US population within three years, 66% of the US population within five years and 95% within ten years.

However, according to a statement (pdf) made by M2Z Networks, the FCC is intentionally dragging their heels in order to scuttle the plan. They really pull no punches when speaking to Om Malik:
Chairman Martin’s staff is using arguments that are nonsensical, not supported by the evidence in the record, and would not stand the light of day in a court. Martin’s staff proposed solution is “start a lengthy rulemaking” to determine what to do with this spectrum, which is exactly what the incumbents have called for in opposing M2Z over the last 15 months since we went public(no new entrants and death by inaction).
The company insists that the FCC is going to derail the plan out of loyalty to incumbent operators AT&T and Verizon, despite the fact that free national broadband would serve the public interest. We'll assume their decision to censor content on their base free tier was an effort to appeal to FCC chief Kevin Martin's personal crusade against indecency. It apparently didn't work.

Related:•YouTube video of M2Z CEO John Muleta testifying before Congress•Wall Street Journal report (reg. required)

Related:
  1. Tuesday Evening Links
  2. Senator Says FCC Auction Hinders Competition
  3. Verizon Nabs Most Valuable 700Mhz Spectrum
  4. 700Mhz Auction Winners Finally Talking
  5. Motorola Offers White Space Device For Testing
  6. New Wireless ETF Policies Compared
  7. FCC Begins Field Testing Of Prototype 'White Space' Broadband
  8. Google Launches White Space Broadband Website
Forums » FCC Scuttling Free Broadband Plan
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Post a:
barn25

join:2005-11-17
Springfield, IL

really, really sad...

does this surprise anyone?

sansri88
Go digtal you analog laggards
Premium
join:2005-12-17
Iselin, NJ
clubs:

Eh...

What do you expect? It's the FCC, Verizon and AT&T has it in their pockets!
Vonage User

join:2004-05-15
Hillsborough, NC

Re: Eh...

dont forget time warner

sansri88
Go digtal you analog laggards
Premium
join:2005-12-17
Iselin, NJ
clubs:

Re: Eh...

I always thought the FCC (at least now) had it out for cable companies. Or is that just Comcast and Cablevision?

jjoshua
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Scotch Plains, NJ

That's not the way it's supposed to work

The government should not be involved in a rev share. The government, in the public's best interests, should make the spectrum available to the highest bidder.
chemaupr

join:2005-06-06
Alexandria, VA

Re: That's not the way it's supposed to work

Isn't the public best interest to have FREE ACROSS THE US internet access.

Rev Share.... is better than taxing the hell out of your life, if you ask me.
wresnick

join:2003-08-03
Union City, CA

If revenue is in the public's best interest, then rev share and bidding are both viable options. The one that has the potential of generating the most revenue is the most viable if that's the goal.

If the goal is to serve the best interest of the public, then the allocation should depend on potential uses and how they benefit the general public. If free WiFi makes sense, then companies should be able to state their case. If all other things are equal, then auctioning things off makes sense, unless a sound financial analysis shows a better potential with revenue sharing.

People lease land from governments. They pay taxes in proportion to profits. Governments make profits from auctions, leases, taxes based on value, taxes based on size or area, and taxes based on revenue. Aside from semantics, isn't the last category a form of revenue sharing?
footballdude

join:2002-08-13
Imperial, MO

free stuff

Sounds like M2Z wants the government to give them something very valuable for free with the promise of payments sometime in the future. And they're surprised the government isn't jumping at the chance?

TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
·Comcast

Re: free stuff

said by footballdude See Profile :

Sounds like M2Z wants the government to give them something very valuable for free with the promise of payments sometime in the future. And they're surprised the government isn't jumping at the chance?
That is what I got out of it. They want the government to take all the risk and their stockholders to get a free ride. Why isn't all the anti-corporate crowd jumping on M2Z for trying to get a free ride?
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Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
·Packet8
·Cox HSI

said by footballdude See Profile :

Sounds like M2Z wants the government to give them something very valuable for free with the promise of payments sometime in the future. And they're surprised the government isn't jumping at the chance?
You are right... They government should hold an auction for this spectrum and let smaller providers try and pick up the spectrum to do this...

Oh wait, that's right, they tried that once. The FCC setup an auction of spectrum just for small businesses and guess what... ATT, Verizon and the other incumbents set up a bunch of small front companies to bid on the spectrum and won. Now they control the spectrum...
--
Prove it...
Save the Internet Time (NTP) service, use the pool.
Skippy25

join:2000-09-13
Hazelwood, MO

There is nothing wrong with this business plan as virtually all businesses are started with a "loan" that will require repayment. There is virtually no cost involved to the FCC to give this spectrum away to begin with so......

If this company fails, then the spectrum goes back to the FCC. Keep in mind, they aren't buying the spectrum, they are buying a lease to it and if they can't meet the conditions needed or are unable to utilize it as it should be used for public interest it is the governments and our right to take it back from them.

As pointed out before, the FCC is nothing but a government front for the big Telco's and when the planets are aligned they are the same for the cable companines.
russotto

join:2000-10-05
Collegeville, PA

Uhh, yeah

Advertising supported, family friendly? Good riddance.
jhhyde

join:2006-12-22
Dobbs Ferry, NY

edit:
August 16th, @10:10AM

please delete

Meant to post a comment and ended up with a forum entry
jc100

join:2002-04-10
·RoadRunner Cable

Good and Bad

Well it depends what this company means by Family Friendly. Are they going to censor and monitor what people do on the line? Is it going to be like a educational firewall where certain terms are blocked? If so, then M2Z might as well not even bother. However, if they are implying they offer settings to do these tasks (that can be disabled or enabled), then I would say this is a good idea. If they are willing to give a service to the public without cost and without tax dollars involved, why not? We all know this wouldn't be possible any other way. No company is going to offer this for free. I say give them a shot on a small scale level. Let them implement in a major city and see how it goes. If it works, then give them the go ahead to build out. My 2 cents.
cmaenginsb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-19
Palmdale, CA

Rule making is normal process

The normal process for the FCC making any policy decision is to go through the "lengthy rulemaking" so that everyone's interest is represented, not just what one company wants. Every major decision the FCC makes (and this would be a major one) goes through this process. If the FCC skipped this process in creating a new policy in the incumbents favor people would be all over them, why should it be any different for these morons?
--
CCNA, Comtrain Certified Tower Climber
chemaupr

join:2005-06-06
Alexandria, VA

Re: Rule making is normal process

Is not, they presnted their proposal over a year ago. By the same rules the FCC established, they should have responded by know.
cmaenginsb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-19
Palmdale, CA

Re: Rule making is normal process

And how did they present their proposal and where in the FCC rules does it require a time frame for them to act? The FCC generally moves pretty slow, having seen the amount of time it's taken for them to make changes in the unlicensed band a year isn't an unacceptable time to consider something especially depending on how it was first presented to them.
Edward1978

join:2007-07-23
De Soto, IL
·Verizon Online DSL

It is all a lie.....

The money hungry US won't do this, it is greed that keept extreeme Southern IL from geting highspeed for so many years & my parents still can't get it. Cause the bonehead who did the wisp in that area, put the antinna in a stupid place, so only the maine town gets it!!! A hill blocks it from us, the freq. is to high to go through!!!!
Edward1978

join:2007-07-23
De Soto, IL
·Verizon Online DSL

It is all a lie!

The money hungry US won't do this, it is greed that keept extreeme Southern IL from geting highspeed for so many years & my parents still can't get it. Cause the bonehead who did the wisp in that area, put the antinna in a stupid place, so only the maine town gets it!!! A hill blocks it from us, the freq. is to high to go through.

CylonRed
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
·Speakeasy

LOL - how many FREE internet ISP's still exist????

NONE that I am aware of - even NetZero who does not provide anything above dialup.

Even if the hurdles are jumped - I would see this failing within 3-5 years - it is virtually guaranteed.

Every body wants high speed at super low prices or free and that can't even work for phones... Seems folks just do not learn from the lessons of past companies...

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

Re: LOL - how many FREE internet ISP's still exist????

said by CylonRed See Profile :

NONE that I am aware of - even NetZero who does not provide anything above dialup.
They do. you only get 10 free hours/month.
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ
clubs:

M2Z is asking for free access for 5% of company's profits

Leeches must die. What is 5% of SurRocket's profits. It is time to grow little children. Leeches will not feed you, they will bleed those that do.

jakmart

join:2002-03-21
Grayslake, IL

Jimmy is still alive with FREE Wi-Fi

The proposal on the table in Lake County Illinois is for JimmyWireless to build out FREE Wi-Fi in the Independence Grove Forest Preserve in exchange for a reduced 5 yr tower lease contract. Using DD-WRT with NoCat splash and keyword/web site filtering for good behavior surfing in parking areas. All of you vacationers that travel thru central Lake County will find this a nice amenity. Add-in the concept of teaching amateur radio and wireless technology as an educational program and I hope to create a win-win situation, otherwise, another WISP ends up in the recycle bin.
tmc8080

join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY

Hmm, Telco & Cable lobby?

So, exactly how much telco and cableco lobbist money did it take to nix this idea?

Free is anticapitalist.. imagine someone giving away free gasoline to put big oil out of business, they simply wouldn't let it happen, it'd be outlawed, an outrage, simply a zero possibility... the powers that be would rather let a million 9/11's & wwiii's happen than let their business go up in smoke..

AnonDOG

@verizon.net

It is one thing to complain here...

It is quite another to complain to your non-republican senator, representative, or whomever...

Point being that those people are pissed at the incumbents and therefore they may actually do something, unless they are also bought and paid for...
SylphFi
Premium
join:2007-06-07
Moses Lake, WA

Re: It is one thing to complain here...

It worked for Internet Radio (sort of), so it could work here as well. Question is, do you all want it bad enough to take the time to contact your legislative representatives?

BedrockNet

@comcast.net

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Forums » FCC Scuttling Free Broadband Plan


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