Washington, D.C. - Obama Seeks to Expand Airwaves for Wireless Use

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902

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WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will invest $40 million in the next year and another $60 million over the next five years to free more of the nation’s airwaves for use by consumers in wireless broadband networks, the White House announced Friday.

The effort is meant to build on a 2010 initiative that aimed to make available some 500 megahertz of electromagnetic spectrum – the airwaves used by cellphone and wireless communications. Those airwaves were intended to come from a combination of federal and private-sector sources.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/15/u...expand-airwaves-for-wireless-use.html?hp&_r=0
 

mm

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Another cl#$%&r f#$k in the works, yeah sure 500000 jobs created? A bunch of made up #'s, and even if it was 1/10 of the quoted number, i seriously doubt any of them are RF jobs.

Oh wait, after the FCC and Congress screw it up maybe Obummer will have the Infernal retard service step in and mishandle things.
 
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DaveNF2G

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The report must be false. Everyone knows that only Republicans pander to big businesses like the wireless telecomm industry.
 

KM4WLV

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Another cl#$%&r f#$k in the works, yeah sure 500000 jobs created? A bunch of made up #'s, and even if it was 1/10 of the quoted number, i seriously doubt any of them are RF jobs.

Oh wait, after the FCC and Congress screw it up maybe Obummer will have the Infernal retard service step in and mishandle things.

LMAO :D Better watch out picking on NObama. He gets his feelings hurt worse than a 3 year old who just s**t his pants on the playground. You'll be next on the Secret Service and NSA hot sheets LOL
 

rapidcharger

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I don't have a problem with the freeing up 500mhz of spectrum part.
What I have a problem with is the auctioning of it to the existing wireless cartels part.
Have they demonstrated they are good stewards of the spectrum who share a common vision with the president? No. They're greedy pigs. They don't want broadband to be affordable. They don't want choice for consumers and businesses. They want monopolies and broadband to sell at the highest possible market price. They want to expand their infrastructure as little as humanly possible to maximize profit.

I fail to see why the government, who routinely spends trillions of dollars on roads, highways and bridges and similar infrastructure can't also DIY on expanding broadband to everyone. Oh that's right. I forgot congress is a wholly owned subsidiary of the telecom giants. God forbid we bring choices of affordable broadband and telephone to everyone who needs it.

I also see there's some more W,F & A packaged with it. More radio systems for agencies who didn't need it and didn't ask for it, I'm sure.
 
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Wilrobnson

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I've always liked the specious "bridge to nowhere" arguments propagated by people who've no idea what they're talking about, save information gleaned from a 15-second talking head news reporter's breathless "on scene investigation".

Do me a favor next time you are tempted to quote that project. Fly up to Ketchikan, especially during tourist season. Wait in the pouring rain for 2-10 hours for a ferry that's supposed to run every 15 minutes, but seems to always have "mechanical issues" or "weather delays". Collect your soaked and ruined baggage when the ferry finally shows and ooze your way aboard, then tell me you don't think even a smaller bridge should be built. After all, what's a 2 minute cab ride when you can sit safely at home somewhere in the Lower 48 and rail against "pork barrel spending"?

Bonus points if the airport terminal is overflowing with cannery workers that you can smell from 100 yards away and standing in a 2 hour torrential downpour is your only option for your safety, sanity and sense of smell.
 

rapidcharger

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I've always liked the specious "bridge to nowhere" arguments propagated by people who've no idea what they're talking about, save information gleaned from a 15-second talking head news reporter's breathless "on scene investigation".

Do me a favor next time you are tempted to quote that project. Fly up to Ketchikan, especially during tourist season. Wait in the pouring rain for 2-10 hours for a ferry that's supposed to run every 15 minutes, but seems to always have "mechanical issues" or "weather delays". Collect your soaked and ruined baggage when the ferry finally shows and ooze your way aboard, then tell me you don't think even a smaller bridge should be built. After all, what's a 2 minute cab ride when you can sit safely at home somewhere in the Lower 48 and rail against "pork barrel spending"?

Bonus points if the airport terminal is overflowing with cannery workers that you can smell from 100 yards away and standing in a 2 hour torrential downpour is your only option for your safety, sanity and sense of smell.

Lets stay on topic.
I was using "bridge to nowhere" as a figure of speech. I don't know diddly about the actual bridge and I don't care. Don't take it personally.
 

902

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The problem with auctions is that organizations buy the resources for speculation. Then those resources potentially lie fallow, or the purchasing organization becomes a monolith of impunity, "too big to fail." Those organizations roll over their profits and then top-bid for more resources. As a matter of policy, if I were an FCC commissioner, I would have voted against any of the Judge Greene "Baby Bells" from becoming competitive carriers outside their incumbent locale.

What seems to serve the public better are spectrum leases. I believe the EU does this now. This way, if resources are inadequately used, they are returned for those who can make good use rather than be the blighted neighborhood of spectrum.

I have other concerns, though. First, the taking of spectrum in situations where it was being used effectively - like T-Band. This is the Congressional equivalent of eminent domain. My other concern is that of my (and many of yours') hobby: amateur radio. As has been stated ad nauseum, amateur radio spectrum has been the first sought-after for many years. Thankfully, hams' "big brother" (the DoD) is a primary user who usually sleeps (spectrum-wise) much of the time. I've said it before, I'll say it again - amateur radio needs to be taken away from the FCC's purview and placed under the Department of the Interior - and declared a "national park" protected from foray.

As for agendas, red pill or blue pill, this one has the same results. Anymore, a vote for either party achieves the same result. I'm not buying the tinfoil hat thing given our recent events.
 

AZScanner

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I've always liked the specious "bridge to nowhere" arguments propagated by people who've no idea what they're talking about, save information gleaned from a 15-second talking head news reporter's breathless "on scene investigation".

Do me a favor next time you are tempted to quote that project. Fly up to Ketchikan, especially during tourist season. Wait in the pouring rain for 2-10 hours for a ferry that's supposed to run every 15 minutes, but seems to always have "mechanical issues" or "weather delays". Collect your soaked and ruined baggage when the ferry finally shows and ooze your way aboard, then tell me you don't think even a smaller bridge should be built. After all, what's a 2 minute cab ride when you can sit safely at home somewhere in the Lower 48 and rail against "pork barrel spending"?

Bonus points if the airport terminal is overflowing with cannery workers that you can smell from 100 yards away and standing in a 2 hour torrential downpour is your only option for your safety, sanity and sense of smell.

All of the above sounds like a local problem that can be solved with local money. Why do the "lower 48" have to kick in for a bridge that 99.999% of the country will likely never use? It seems like a valid complaint to me. If you disagree, then I have a similar proposition for you - I live in a small two bedroom apartment and have 3 children from a previous marriage that come over quite often. It would be really nice to move into a 4 or 5 bedroom house so that there's room for all of them when they come over, but I can't afford to pay for it all by myself. Won't you help me pay the mortgage?

Politics is FUN...
-AZ
 

Wilrobnson

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Sort of sounds like people I know in your area complaining about "illegals coming over the Mexican border and taking jobs". Why am I, living in Washington, going to be paying for increased border security with my tax dollars? Federal tax money gets spent everywhere, in case you haven't realized... unless it's sent overseas.

But we should take this to a PM war before we all get issued the almighty "infractions".
 

AZScanner

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Sort of sounds like people I know in your area complaining about "illegals coming over the Mexican border and taking jobs". Why am I, living in Washington, going to be paying for increased border security with my tax dollars? Federal tax money gets spent everywhere, in case you haven't realized... unless it's sent overseas.

But we should take this to a PM war before we all get issued the almighty "infractions".

Well, it's really nothing like that. Keeping the border secure IS a good use of federal dollars because the "illegals coming over the border and taking jobs" don't just take them from people who live in states that border Mexico. They also bring drugs and crime with them, which also is not a phenomenon common only to border states. To compare what the Border Patrol does with a bridge that replaces a ferry somewhere most Americans have never even heard of let alone been to is a really big stretch.

We don't need to take it to PM but maybe a thread in the Politics forum would be a better place to discuss this. That way others could weigh in. Besides, I was just havin' a little fun. :)

-AZ
 

902

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Politics is only part of this issue, and, at that, it's only a smokescreen. Don't get lost in politics, because today neither of the two sides inspires any confidence at all. For us, politics is NOT as important as overall policy and future and who gets to steer the boat on how spectrum is used.

It's one thing to gripe about it, but entirely another to be concerned enough to reach out to your legislators (very politely, of course) to let them know that they won't get to enjoy the lavishes industry lobbyists will indulge them with without one small, insignificant thing that they only care about every couple of years (and after that it's meaningless until maybe 6 months before they need it again): your one little vote - and the little votes of all the other people who believe like you do.

They absolutely need to know how you as a hobbyist, user, practitioner, or all of the above, envision policy should be. If you don't tell them, industry will. Industry HAS. You need to have a seat at the "grown-ups' table."
 

MTS2000des

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Politics is only part of this issue, and, at that, it's only a smokescreen. Don't get lost in politics, because today neither of the two sides inspires any confidence at all. For us, politics is NOT as important as overall policy and future and who gets to steer the boat on how spectrum is used.

It's one thing to gripe about it, but entirely another to be concerned enough to reach out to your legislators (very politely, of course) to let them know that they won't get to enjoy the lavishes industry lobbyists will indulge them with without one small, insignificant thing that they only care about every couple of years (and after that it's meaningless until maybe 6 months before they need it again): your one little vote - and the little votes of all the other people who believe like you do.

They absolutely need to know how you as a hobbyist, user, practitioner, or all of the above, envision policy should be. If you don't tell them, industry will. Industry HAS. You need to have a seat at the "grown-ups' table."

That is the one bright side of the Internet age.

Today, it is easier then ever to let those in command KNOW we are watching what they do. No longer do we really need to rely on a "select few" to get our voices heard.

The FCC's ECFS (Electronic Comment Filing System) is ideal for this purpose, and they DO read the comments and take them into consideration.

The key here is adding effective and concise comments, not opinion full of emotional rhetoric. This is the hard part and not everyone is capable.

But everyone can participate. We no longer have to take a flight to DC on a redeye to beg for supper at that table with the grown ups, we can now do it from our desktops.
 
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