Wireless Future Program: Publications, Events and More

International Summit for Community Wireless Networks 2008

Communications — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/28/2008 - 4:00pm

The New America Foundation/Wireless Future Program is pleased to announce that the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks (ISC4CWN) will be held on May 28th – May 30th, 2008 in Washington, DC.

Co-hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at its downtown headquarters, IS4CWN is the largest gathering of community wireless networking developers, implementers and allies working to build universal, low-cost wireless broadband networks around the world. The Summit serves as an integral lynch pin for connecting and supporting an alliance between technologists, government leaders and community advocates implementing wireless networks worldwide, and providing a rare international forum for discussion of technology, policy and practical solutions to problems facing community wireless.

Since the first National Summit for Community Wireless Networks in 2004, over 300 Community Internet and municipal broadband projects have sprung up in the United States alone. Previous summits have also helped to spur the development of community wireless networks in places such as Chile and Venezuela, Ghana and South Africa, and throughout Europe. This year’s Summit will focus on how these networks can better serve their target populations, the policies needed to support broader deployment of community wireless systems, and the latest technological and software innovations.

For more information and to register, please visit the conference website.

Google Unwired (LIVE WEBCAST)

Communications — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/22/2008 - 9:00am

With Google, Larry Page has gone a long way toward achieving the audacious goal he and co-founder Sergey Brin set for the company: "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible."

One of his current goals is equally ambitious: making the Internet itself accessible, anywhere and anytime, through pervasive and affordable wireless broadband networks. Page has helped lead Google's efforts over the past year to pry open both unused TV airwaves and closed cellular networks to promote wireless broadband competition and consumer choice.

In an interview-style discussion with New America's Michael Calabrese, Page will describe Google's strategy for expanding access to the Internet and allocating spectrum more efficiently -- and explain why opening the vacant TV channels for unlicensed access after next February's DTV transition is the most important thing the FCC can do this year to promote broadband deployment and tech sector innovation.

Watch the Event -- and Ask Your Questions -- Online

This event will be broadcast live on the web through UStream.tv. Online viewers will be able to submit questions and make comments via UStream's real-time chat.

We are also taking questions in advance -- and allowing interested users to "vote up" their favorites -- using the Berkman Center for Internet and Society's Question Tool. Please submit your questions, and check back often between now and May 22.

Note: The latest version of Adobe Flash Player is required to view the live video. If you see a plain blue box at right, rather than a video player, please be sure to upgrade to Flash Player 9.

Sascha Meinrath in New York Times | 'Hopes for Wireless Cities Fade as Internet Providers Pull Out'

Communications — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 07:27:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Hopes for Wireless Cities Fade as Internet Providers Pull Out (New York Times)

. . . “The entire for-profit model is the reason for the collapse in all these projects,” said Sascha Meinrath, technology analyst at the New America Foundation, a nonprofit research organization in Washington.

Mr. Meinrath said that advocates wanted to see American cities catch up with places like Athens, Leipzig and Vienna, where free or inexpensive Wi-Fi already exists in many areas.

He said that true municipal networks, the ones that are owned and operated by municipalities, were far more sustainable because they could take into account benefits that help cities beyond private profit, including property-value increases, education benefits and quality-of-life improvements that come with offering residents free wireless access.

Mr. Meinrath pointed to St. Cloud, Fla., which spent $3 million two years ago to build a free wireless network that is used by more than 70 percent of the households in the city. . .

Michael Calabrese in San Jose Mercury News | Auction Takes 'First Step' to Open-Access Wireless

Communications — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:01:00 -0400

New America in the News:

San Jose Mercury News | Auction Takes 'First Step' to Open-Access Wireless

. . . Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation, said Verizon's ability to subsidize certain handsets gives it enormous market power in determining which devices and applications will ultimately become popular with consumers.

But Calabrese said the auction did help achieve the goals of increased openness and innovation. "We need to extend these consumer protections, but this was an important first step," he said. . .

Letter to Chairman Martin Re: Reauction of D Block

Wireless Future — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:43:00 -0400

Notice of Oral Ex Parte Presentation

Wireless Future — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:22:00 -0400

Comments of Public Knowledge, et al.

Wireless Future — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:04:00 -0400

Municipal Wireless Success Demands Public Involvement, Experts Say

Ron Tang — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:00:00 -0400

Most media have it wrong. Municipal wireless networks across the United States didn't stumble in 2007 -- high-profile cities where deals fell apart, such as Chicago, San Francisco and Houston, were not going to finance, own or operate their respective networks. These weren't municipal networks at all. The business model that faltered in 2007 was the "private corporate franchise" model based on the deal that Philadelphia and EarthLink agreed to in 2006. It was, in fact, the free market that failed last year -- not governments in their traditional role as the builders and maintainers of critical infrastructure.

How we… more

The Power of Organizing Without Organizations

Communications — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:15:00 -0500

A New America Event
03/06/2008 - 12:15pm

The Internet, social networking and peer-to-peer (p2p) communication have transformed how people connect, as well as the scope, scale and speed of mass collaborations. This transformation has opened the door for self-emerging and increasingly complex virtual forums, allowing individuals to collaborate and organize from worlds apart.

Please join us for a discussion about what happens when people are given the tools to do things together, without needing traditional organizational structures. Shirky will discuss his new book, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, which explains how the Internet, social networking, p2p technologies are just beginning their revolutionary impact on cultural creation, social movements, business, and traditional hierarchical structures and organizations.

Clay Shirky was an expert on the Internet and emerging technology even before there was a World Wide Web. He has written extensively about the Internet since 1996, with regular columns in Business 2.0, FEED, OpenP2P.com and ACM Net Worker, as well as articles that have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, Wired, and other leading outlets.

Michael Calabrese in NC Business Journal | Azulstar Backs Out of WinstonNet Wireless Initiative

Communications — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:33:00 -0500

New America in the News:

NC Business Journal | Azulstar Backs Out of WinstonNet Wireless Initiative

. . . Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation think tank in Washington, D.C. said the lure of non-taxpayer financing has proven strong, but not realistic.

Municipal wireless "is very viable, but what's come into question is this corporate franchise model that is premised on a free lunch for taxpayers," Calabrese said. "Where cities have embraced municipal wireless as a public service or a means to achieve greater efficiencies, it's working fine."

Calabrese pointed to St. Cloud, Fla. as an example, where he said the city paid to install a network and hired a private company to operate it, calculating that money saved from efficiencies like automated meter reading and streamlined building permit applications would make the money back over time. About 70 percent of the adult population of St. Cloud uses that network, Calabrese said. . .

Sascha Meinrath in the New York Times politics blog | "Wanted: A More Digital Congress"

Communications — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:12:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Wanted: A More Digital Congress (New York Times)

. . . Another way to share content online with voters, said Sascha Meinrath of the New America Foundation, is including access to a program like Google Documents, which allows multiple users to edit the same document. The idea is that if congressmen put a preliminary draft of a bill in an open source program on their sites, then specialists out in their home districts could amend the language or add information that hadn’t been addressed for the legislator to consider.

“We should be tapping into that expertise,” Mr. Meinrath said. “Peer production is a massive untapped resource.” . . .

Michael Calabrese in RCR Wireless | State's Role in Consumer Protection Bill Pondered

Communications — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 11:11:00 -0500

New America in the News:

RCR Wireless News | State's Role in Consumer Protection Bill Pondered

. . . "Allowing consumers to purchase unsubsidized handsets without a long-term wireless service plan, and at a fee no higher than subsidized wireless plans, would begin to knock down those obstacles and promote increased consumer freedom in the wireless market," said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation. . .

Broadcast to Broadband

Ron Tang — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Although much public attention has focused on the US digital TV transition -- and the resulting reallocation of analog TV channels by auction to wireless carriers -- the US Federal Communications Commission will decide how to reallocate an even larger swath of prime TV band spectrum this year: the unused “white space” between occupied DTV channels. This reallocation of unused spectrum from broadcasting to broadband permits unlicensed access for both fixed and mobile applications.

In 2002, the FCC’s Spectrum Policy Task Force recommended that spectrum efficiency and innovation could be enhanced by reallocating unused and underutilized spectrum for both flexible-use… more

Reply to Oppositions to Petition for Reconsideration

Wireless Future — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:31:00 -0500

Michael Calabrese in Telecommunications Reports | 'Positives, Negatives in Band Auction'

Communications — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:00:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Open Access Advocates See Positives, Negatives in FCC's 700 MHz Band Auction (Telecommunications Reports)

Michael Calabrese, vice president of the New America Foundation and director of its Wireless Future Program, concluded that the sale has produced “mixed results with respect to the public interest.” He noted the open access provisions on the 22-MHz C block have been triggered, but said the winner of the spectrum will “most likely” be Verizon Wireless. And he noted the D block reserve price hasn’t nearly been met. ...

Verizon Wireless’s announcement “sounds good, but really the question still remains ... will it lead to real openness and will market forces alone lead the other carriers ... toward the sort of consumer choice and open network innovation that we need?” Mr. Calabrese asked. “We’re very skeptical of that.”...

Mr. Calabrese said the FCC, as it mulls new rules for the D block, should consider requiring the bidder to be a wholesale-only provider, which would lead to additional competition in the market. Public interest groups and others had unsuccessfully sought such a mandate on the C- and D-block spectrum.

New America on CNET | Google's Schmidt named chair of think tank

Communications — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:58:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Google's Schmidt named chair of think tank (CNET)

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt has been named as chairman of the board to the New America Foundation, a non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C. that focuses on issues like healthcare, education and foreign policy.

Schmidt joined the board 10 years ago when the centrist think tank was founded and before he joined Google. He will assume his new role June 1... more

The Future of Municipal Wireless

Communications — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
02/06/2008 - 12:00pm

When EarthLink announced its decision to withdraw further investments in municipal wireless networks in November 2007, the future of Philadelphia's network, along with hundreds of municipal wireless projects, became uncertain. Wireless Philadelphia, the nation's first big-city municipal wireless initiative, led the way for cities to invest in broadband infrastructure. Although a number of other muni wireless networks have been set up and are running successfully (such as St. Cloud, FL and Chaska and Minneapolis, MN) troubles with the Philadelphia model serve as a warning for the future of municipal wireless. Meanwhile, cities like Pittsburgh must overcome state pre-emption laws, pushed through by incumbent carriers, aimed at preventing towns and counties from filling broadband gaps with government-subsidized services.

Two new reports from the New America Foundation on the state of municipal wireless in Philadelphia were released at this event: Joshua Breitbart, author of The Philadelphia Story: Learning from a Wireless Pioneer, discussed how Wireless Philadelphia evolved and will continue to impact the future of public and private investment in municipal networks. Dr. Jon Peha used Pittsburgh, PA as a case study for his new economic analysis that compares four alternative models for muni wireless networks: Sustainability of Possible Models for a Wireless Metropolitan-Area Network.

Other panelists described several innovative and successful community wireless networks including: the FunkFeuer network in Austria; the Austin Wireless City Project of Texas; the City of St. Cloud's free citywide WiFi network in Florida; and Minneapolis's wireless network in Minnesota.

Sascha Meinrath on NPR | 'Philly Fears Earthlink May Bail on WiFi Network'

Communications — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 18:39:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Philly Fears Earthlink May Bail on WiFi Network (NPR)

Philadelphia's wireless Internet network was supposed to be a model for the nation, but the project has been plagued by delays and spotty service. Now EarthLink, the company building it, is getting out of the municipal wireless business in other cities. That may leave Philadelphia disconnected.

...NPR reports on Philadelphia wireless and interviews Sascha Meinrath of the New America Foundation Wireless Future Program. Listen to the segment here.

Wireless Pittsburgh

Wireless Future — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:13:00 -0500

Abstract

Many cities are considering the deployment of a wireless metropolitan-area network (WiMAN) based on Wi-Fi technology. Some hope to find the “right” WiMAN policy, but in reality, different policies are appropriate for different cities. City leaders must often balance competing goals, including the desire to maximize the area in which wireless services will be available, to maximize competition among providers, to minimize subsidies from government agencies and non-profit organizations, and to ensure financial sustainability. This paper investigates the extent to which these goals can be met with four basic models: (1) a single citywide monopoly WiMAN provider; (2)… more

Ex Parte Comment on XM/Sirius Merger Conditions

Wireless Future — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:13:00 -0500