Free nationwide Internet access may be on the way sooner than you think, thanks to a hotly contested Federal Communications Commission ruling decided Friday. The plan, just given the go-ahead by the government, would create a federally endorsed WiFi network supported only by ads and optional subscription-based speed boosts.
Communications Clash
As you might imagine, the concept isn't sitting so well with commercial Internet service providers. Companies such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have been fighting the idea since its introduction, claiming the free network would interfere with their own offerings.
The government's top communications official, though, now says that's simply not true. In a report released Friday (PDF), FCC Chairman Kevin Martin asserts that recent field tests conducted in Seattle show no significant interference between the services' neighboring spectrums.
Auction Block
Up next, the FCC will hold an auction for the airspace to decide what company will be responsible. That move, some speculate, could come as soon as early 2009. Assuming everything progresses on track, the new network would then have to be ready to serve half the nation by 2013 and 95 percent of the population by 2019.
As for who'd get the bid, a Silicon Valley communications company called M2Z Networks has been the most vocal player in the game thus far. "America's broadband Internet deployment goals are going unmet and America's international position is rapidly falling," the company states on its Web site. "M2Z seeks to put America back on the right track with our mission to provide free, fast, and family-friendly wireless broadband Internet connectivity."
Hold the Phone...
Hang on -- "family-friendly"? You've got that right, Ron Jeremy. The free access would have certain restrictions to keep kids from clicking onto questionable content. The system, though, would have some kind of option to let adults go filter-free, according to early plans. (And we're sure no teenager would be able to figure it out. Right.)
Business Benefit
It's worth noting that the battle for the bid isn't a purely noble cause. The FCC would require at least a quarter of the airspace to be used for the free Internet access. The remaining three-quarters, though, could be used for those subscription-based services aimed at families who want faster connections. The free service, the FCC's Martin says, would be "designed for lower-income people who may not otherwise have access to the Internet."
Of course, this is the same guy claiming teenagers won't find a way to crack the filter and pull up porn -- so until something actually surfaces, we may have to take it all with a grain of salt.
