Broadband & Community Wireless: Publications, Events and More

Overseas Wireless Deployments Offer Lessons For U.S.

Ron Tang — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:45:00 -0400

How we measure success is as important as what we are measuring. On March 19, 2008, the FCC dramatically revised its broadband data collection, in essence, finally giving in to mounting evidence that current assessments have been woefully inadequate. Previous data collection may have allowed politicians to declare "mission accomplished" -- that universal affordable broadband is available throughout the United States -- yet the fact remains that large swaths of the United States have fallen behind a growing list of other countries in broadband provision.

Within the U.S. context, wireless networks have often followed a familiar trajectory: utilizing hyperbolic and misleading… more

Broadband Revolution

Communications — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
06/23/2008 - 12:15pm

Although the U.S. once led the world in Internet deployment and innovation, our nation continues to plummet in international rankings in terms of broadband adoption, speeds and costs. As a result, there is growing support for an affirmative national broadband policy to promote more affordable and ubiquitous access to high-bandwidth connectivity.

Since 2001, the e-NC Authority of North Carolina has been at the forefront of state efforts to promote availability and adoption of broadband, particularly in rural and distressed urban areas. The e-NC Authority provides a vital state-level view of what it will take to make this essential 21st Century infrastructure available and affordable for all. At this forum the e-NC Authority will release and present a major white paper, prepared by the Baller Herbst Law Group, that comprehensively examines trends and issues in broadband deployment, including:

The growing benefits of broadband to economic development, education, health care, public safety, telework, urban revitalization, and environmental sustainability, and other key areas of American life;
Broadband deployment efforts in leading Asian and European nations and how they differ from the U.S. approach;
The level of bandwidth capacity that will be sufficient to enable America to thrive in the emerging knowledge-based global economy;
How national, state and local broadband strategies can contribute to America's success;
And policy recommendations to help North Carolina and the United States capture the full benefits of broadband in the years ahead.

The panelists discussed the policy recommendations of e-NC and other participating organizations and their implications for developing a national broadband strategy to energize high-speed broadband deployment and adoption throughout the U.S.

Reply Comments on Comprehensive High Cost Universal Service Reform

Wireless Future — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:24:00 -0400

International Summit for Community Wireless Networks 2008

Communications — Wed, 28 May 2008 07:00:00 -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.

New America's Wireless Future Program Event with Larry Page in BusinessWeek | "Google's White-Space Fixation"

Communications — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:22:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Google co-founder Larry Page made a rare trip to Washington this week. No, he wasn't lobbying for net neutrality or being grilled about Internet censorship in China. It was all about the white spaces -- and Google's growing fixation with wireless communications.

With opposition mounting, Page came to bolster Google's push to gain public access to these white spaces, slivers of wireless spectrum between the broadcast channels used by TV stations. . .

During his May 22 speech to the New America Foundation, a think tank where Google CEO Eric Schmidt is chairman-elect, Page used a wireless microphone to downplay interference concerns. "I don't think there's any technical credence to this at all," he said.

Page also argued that unlicensed white spaces offer a way for the U.S. to catch up with the rest of the world in broadband access. For the second year running, the U.S. ranked 15th among the 30 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development in terms of broadband availability, a recent survey found [BusinessWeek.com, 5/22/08]. Today, 10% of Americans still don't have access to DSL or cable broadband, according to consultancy Parks Associates.

Google and others also see white spaces as a way to reignite interest in municipal Wi-Fi networks, many of which are struggling or even being turned off due to financial and service-quality problems. Because the white-space spectrum is more robust, networks using those frequencies would require a fourth to a fifth as many Wi-Fi transmitters to cover an area, according to Michael Calabrese, vice-president of the New America Foundation. Thus, network construction would cost less, while the wireless connections would be speedier.

Should white spaces be approved for unlicensed use, Page hinted, Google might even build some networks for cities with its own funds. "We have money to invest," he said. "We'd probably do it if we could do it on a reasonable scale." Google currently operates a Wi-Fi network in Mountain View, Calif., used by 40,000 people. . .

For the full article, click here.

Philadelphia Network Flop Points To Failure Of Corporate Franchise Model

Ron Tang — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:21:00 -0400

Last year, New America Foundation released an in-depth report and analysis of the Wireless Philadelphia Project, “The Philadelphia Story: Learning from a Municipal Wireless Pioneer.” We concluded that the private franchise model was suboptimal and that Philadelphia’s solution was problematic in a number of ways. At the time, we received good press coverage and a helluvalot of blowback from certain constituencies (who continued to assert that everything was on track).

Now that we’ve made it to May, 2008, Wireless Philadelphia is on its last legs. While many of us are still working to salvage something from this mess, reading through… more

The COMMONS Initiative

Ron Tang — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:52:00 -0400

Over the past several years, interest in municipal wireless and community networking has increased dramatically. Thus far, these initiatives have generally focused on networking local communities. The next evolution in networking involves peering these networks together. Research on broadband service provision is desperately needed to help forge new national telecommunications policies and inspire innovation in networking technologies.

With this goal in mind, the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (“CAIDA”) held a workshop to discuss -- and ultimately propose -- collaboration among researchers and networks to simultaneously solve three acute and growing problems facing the Internet. First, there exists a self-reported… more

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. . .

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

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. . .

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.

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

Michael Calabrese in InfoWorld | "$4.7 billion bid in 17th round of the 700MHz auctions"

Communications — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:12:00 -0500

New America in the News:

$4.7 billion in the 17th round of the 700MHz auctions (InfoWorld)

The FCC may have to re-auction the spectrum without the reserve price and perhaps without public safety obligations, said Michael Calabrese, director of the Spectrum Policy Program at think tank the New America Foundation.

Michael Calabrese in RCR Wireless News | 'Auction rings up $2.4B in first-round bids'

Communications — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:38:00 -0500

New America in the News:

700 MHz auction rings up $2.4B in first-round bids (RCRNews.com)

“An unfortunate combination of tight credit markets and bad policy choices is likely to result in the biggest incumbent wireless carriers acquiring the lion’s share of licenses in today’s big auction of TV band airwaves,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program and VP at the New America Foundation. “The FCC imposed multi-billion reserve [minimum] prices on the spectrum, which will shut out all but the biggest companies, resulting in no new competition.”

Calabrese added: “The auction’s major wild card is Google. Even if Google is outbid in the end, they could transform the wireless marketplace by bidding at least $4.6 billion, the reserve price that triggers open access and consumer choice conditions that the FCC has imposed on the winner of the largest, nationwide block of spectrum [the C Block]. Google's bidding behavior will determine if this auction opens wireless networks so that consumers have a choice of devices, software and content in the future.”

Michael Calabrese in The Associated Press | 'Airwaves Sale Is Payoff for Digital Move'

Communications — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:52:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Airwaves Sale Is Payoff for Digital Move (The Associated Press)

Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation, said, "It's quite likely the D block will have to be re-auctioned without the reserve price."