{"id":560,"date":"2013-02-26T00:44:30","date_gmt":"2013-02-26T04:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/?p=560"},"modified":"2013-02-23T16:48:24","modified_gmt":"2013-02-23T20:48:24","slug":"free-nationwide-wifi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Nationwide WiFi"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><!--\np, li { white-space: pre-wrap; }\n--><\/style>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I was absolutely elated when I heard this story on NPR. Later there were many stories posted about it being \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/anthonykosner\/2013\/02\/08\/there-is-no-fcc-plan-for-free-nationwide-super-wifi-why-wont-this-story-die\/\">wish fulfillment<\/a>\u201d or \u201cwishful thinking\u201d. Personally, I don\u2019t think it was either, despite the research done in the above link. I do believe it will happen, possibly not during this presidency, but I believe it will happen in the near future none the less. Why?<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Both the FCC and the general population are pissed at the telco companies paying their CEOs and other leaders obscene amounts of money while tens of thousands of square miles have little to no coverage in their \u201cnationwide coverage\u201d maps.<\/li>\n<li>The Clinton administration did not live up to its promise of an Information Super Highway for everyone.<\/li>\n<li>The DOD has trouble keeping super secret bases secret when they have to pay crews to trench miles and miles of cable out to them.<\/li>\n<li>The Bush era wiretaps without a warrant are still winding their way through news cycles and the legal system.<\/li>\n<li>By definition, if there are rural communities without high speed Internet access, then there are rural schools also without access.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We will get a nationwide paid-with-tax-dollars wifi. It will be just like the cable Internet many homes get today&#8230;oversold with strangled bandwidth when you really want to use it but good when the flu has 80% of the local population in bed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I am sure contractors and bidders will massively inflate the price, but, the honest answer is that it shouldn\u2019t cost anywhere near the numbers I\u2019ve heard tossed around. You see, there are many abandoned communications towers around the country. The government could easily cease them for pennies on the dollar. Everything is already there. They simply need a hardware upgrade or someone to turn the power back on.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">More directly though, the \u201cfree nationwide\u201d Internet could be a different bandwidth and run at a higher power. Do you remember those old 3-watt analog cell phones? They had big batteries and in many cases static, but you could be 60 miles from a tower and still make a call.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">During my youth I worked for a startup company known as <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Airfone\">Airfone<\/a>. While it is true the network is being used to some extent for in-flight movies, the government could easily usurp or purchase the network. Unlike cell towers of today, Airfone actually did cover the country. It had groundstations all over. We used to have a big map showing the location of all groundstations and the coverage circles they provided to airborne customers. While most people wouldn\u2019t pay $10.50 or whatever was being charged for the first 3 minutes of a call, those who did, for most flights, were able to talk the entire flight switching from groundstation to groundstation as they went. Yes, certain flight paths could skirt the edge of many rings and yes, some planes didn\u2019t have the internal antenna maintained, but for the most part, it worked as designed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">How difficult would it be for the government to take over that network, add some frequencies so we didn\u2019t swamp airline frequencies, and increase the power limit to 3-7 watts for the wifi devices which were made for use with the new nationwide \u201cfree\u201d wifi service? Granted, they may have to add a groundstation or 3 in the heavily populated areas, but, rural America and the super secret bases would be able to get service the day it went live&#8230;instead of waiting 20 years and still not getting cell phone service.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If the government owns the network, they will be able to monitor all of the traffic on it. Those who wish to download kiddie porn, arrange drug deals, or commit other nefarious acts via the Internet will continue to pay for private service&#8230;if it is available. The really stupid terrorists will be rounded up inside of a week.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve all heard the stories of travelers who purchased GPS systems with \u201clive\u201d weather and road closure updates so they could avoid being trapped in the mountains during holiday trips, only to spend over a week trapped in a car with an infant. The problem with getting \u201clive\u201d updates is that you have to have a clear signal, either via satellite or wifi. Wouldn\u2019t it be nice if the new \u201cfree\u201d nationwide wifi made certain that signal was already there.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Most importantly, the FCC will finally have the muscle to tell telco businesses that they are paying their management too much without putting enough into infrastructure. They will also have the power to tell them they are off-shoring too many jobs. If they refuse to listen the \u201cfree\u201d wifi can simply roll out some more software offering more services, like free phone calls, free movie downloads, etc.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Seriously, aren\u2019t we ALL tired of calling \u201ccustomer service\u201d only to get someone in Korea or some other country who we cannot understand and who is incapable of providing us any actual service? If my tax dollars can put an end to that, they have been well spent!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was absolutely elated when I heard this story on NPR. Later there were many stories posted about it being \u201cwish fulfillment\u201d or \u201cwishful thinking\u201d. Personally, I don\u2019t think it was either, despite the research done in the above link. I do believe it will happen, possibly not during this presidency, but I believe it will happen in the near future none the less. Why? Both the FCC and the general population are pissed at &hellip; <a title=\"Free Nationwide WiFi\" class=\"bnm-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Free Nationwide WiFi<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[169,50,171,170],"class_list":["post-560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-information-technology","category-investing","tag-airfone","tag-npr","tag-telco","tag-wifi","bnm-entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Free Nationwide WiFi &#8211; Logikal Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Free Nationwide WiFi &#8211; Logikal Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was absolutely elated when I heard this story on NPR. Later there were many stories posted about it being \u201cwish fulfillment\u201d or \u201cwishful thinking\u201d. Personally, I don\u2019t think it was either, despite the research done in the above link. I do believe it will happen, possibly not during this presidency, but I believe it will happen in the near future none the less. Why? Both the FCC and the general population are pissed at &hellip; Free Nationwide WiFiRead more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Logikal Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-26T04:44:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"seasoned_geek\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"seasoned_geek\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/information-technology\\\/free-nationwide-wifi\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/information-technology\\\/free-nationwide-wifi\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"seasoned_geek\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c077f770ade13de7faaf616c3eac6842\"},\"headline\":\"Free Nationwide WiFi\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-26T04:44:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/information-technology\\\/free-nationwide-wifi\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":844,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c077f770ade13de7faaf616c3eac6842\"},\"keywords\":[\"Airfone\",\"NPR\",\"telco\",\"wifi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Information Technology\",\"Investing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/information-technology\\\/free-nationwide-wifi\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/information-technology\\\/free-nationwide-wifi\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/information-technology\\\/free-nationwide-wifi\\\/\",\"name\":\"Free Nationwide WiFi &#8211; Logikal Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-26T04:44:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/information-technology\\\/free-nationwide-wifi\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/information-technology\\\/free-nationwide-wifi\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/information-technology\\\/free-nationwide-wifi\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Free Nationwide WiFi\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/\",\"name\":\"Logikal Blog\",\"description\":\"For people with attention spans longer than a Tweet\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c077f770ade13de7faaf616c3eac6842\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c077f770ade13de7faaf616c3eac6842\",\"name\":\"seasoned_geek\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"seasoned_geek\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=r\"},\"description\":\"Roland Hughes started his IT career in the early 1980s. 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Some of the attacks predicted in that book have since come to pass. While it was not originally intended to be a trilogy, it became the first book of \\\"The Earth That Was\\\" trilogy: Infinite Exposure Lesedi - The Greatest Lie Ever Told John Smith - Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars When he is not consulting Roland Hughes posts about technology and sometimes politics on his blog. He also has regularly scheduled Sunday posts appearing on the Interesting Authors blog.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theminimumyouneedtoknow.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.logikalsolutions.com\\\/wordpress\\\/author\\\/seasoned_geek\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Free Nationwide WiFi &#8211; Logikal Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Free Nationwide WiFi &#8211; Logikal Blog","og_description":"I was absolutely elated when I heard this story on NPR. Later there were many stories posted about it being \u201cwish fulfillment\u201d or \u201cwishful thinking\u201d. 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Both the FCC and the general population are pissed at &hellip; Free Nationwide WiFiRead more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/","og_site_name":"Logikal Blog","article_published_time":"2013-02-26T04:44:30+00:00","author":"seasoned_geek","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"seasoned_geek","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/"},"author":{"name":"seasoned_geek","@id":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/c077f770ade13de7faaf616c3eac6842"},"headline":"Free Nationwide WiFi","datePublished":"2013-02-26T04:44:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/"},"wordCount":844,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/c077f770ade13de7faaf616c3eac6842"},"keywords":["Airfone","NPR","telco","wifi"],"articleSection":["Information Technology","Investing"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/","url":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/","name":"Free Nationwide WiFi &#8211; Logikal Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-02-26T04:44:30+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/free-nationwide-wifi\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Free Nationwide WiFi"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/","name":"Logikal Blog","description":"For people with attention spans longer than a Tweet","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/c077f770ade13de7faaf616c3eac6842"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/c077f770ade13de7faaf616c3eac6842","name":"seasoned_geek","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"seasoned_geek"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae9adac14079d84b909e635d7af986fe4568053af4fd9ff8d4109298c392493e?s=96&d=mm&r=r"},"description":"Roland Hughes started his IT career in the early 1980s. 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