Unlicensed Spectrum: A One-Man WiFi-Only Experiment

04 Mar 2015

Unlicensed Spectrum: A One-Man WiFi-Only Experiment

A recent WSJ article (subscription required) by Ryan Knutson begins with the provocative question “Do you really need a wireless phone company?” A few sentences later he notes that while “[i]t is almost impossible to imagine life without a cellphone…imagining life without a cellphone bill is getting a lot easier.” To address his “do we need a wireless phone company” research question, Knutson undertook a one-person experiment. As he explains: For 30 days beginning in January, I disconnected my iPhone from AT&T Inc. and lived entirely off the free Wi-Fi connections that are available nearly everywhere. It wasn’t exactly seamless…But with […]

03 Mar 2015

Unlicensed Spectrum: Startups Offer Low-Cost WiFi-First Service

In my introductory post on unlicensed spectrum I noted that two small startup companies, Republic Wireless and FreedomPop, are making creative use of that spectrum to offer low cost voice and Internet service. These two companies were the focus of a mid-February article in the New York Times by Brian Chen. As Chen explains, “FreedomPop and Republic Wireless…offer services that rely primarily on Wi-Fi networks, and in areas without Wi-Fi, customers can pull a signal from regular cell towers.” FreedomPop, which has 80 employees, offers software that enables smartphones to automatically join Wi-Fi networks…For $5 a month, users can gain […]

24 Feb 2015

Fiber Coming to Detroit’s Downtown…and Perhaps to Other Parts of the City

2015-02-24
Mitchell Shapiro
Blog

From the Detroit Free Press (bolding is mine): Businessman Dan Gilbert is not only buying dozens of buildings in downtown Detroit, he’s also linking them with some of the fastest Internet connections anywhere. Gilbert, founder and chairman of Quicken Loans and Rock Ventures, said this weekend he has formed a new “community investment initiative” called Rocket Fiber LLC to provide faster Internet connections in downtown Detroit…Construction is already underway…in the greater downtown area. Eventually the goal is to expand the service to other parts of the city. Even if Gilbert’s venture decides it’s not economical to extend fiber to every (or […]

24 Feb 2015

The Evolving Role of Unlicensed Spectrum: Introduction

With the FCC taking multiple steps to expand the availability of unlicensed spectrum amid growing user reliance on untethered connectivity, the role and importance of this spectrum in the U.S. context is expanding and likely to expand further. This evolving dynamic will be the topic of a series of posts, starting with this introduction. We hope it will trigger comments from experts and other interested parties in the U.S., and also from those who can draw comparisons with other countries and regions of the world. Among the manifestations of this shift are new types of wireless service providers, including small startups […]

20 Feb 2015

The Greece-Euro Crisis: Much at Stake and Much to Learn

As the Euro crisis enters a new high-risk phase pregnant with opportunity for either long-awaited progress or regrettable and widespread harm, I find myself pondering the value of research focused on how traditional and online/social media are treating the crisis and their role in easing or exacerbating its risks. Such a study might include how media coverage and social media dynamics vary across countries, media types and specific media channels, and how these correlate with public opinion in different countries and key decisions, events and outcomes related to the unfolding situation. There’s certainly a lot at stake in the crisis, […]

16 Feb 2015

Is Your Democracy Failing? There’s an App for that!

2015-02-16
Mitchell Shapiro
Blog

Well, no, actually there isn’t (at least not yet). But there are some intriguing and potentially important efforts underway to give democracy a much needed boost via Internet-based applications and platforms. It’s certainly not hard to make the case that some help is needed, and the sooner the better. A short and incomplete list of problems plaguing the U.S. political system includes campaign finance reform, gerrymandering, the Senate filibuster, voter disenfranchisement, and the apathy and non-voters all this engenders. Speaking of the latter, one data point recently brought to my attention is that only 10% of California’s eligible voters aged […]

12 Feb 2015

Community Fiber Networks: Bringing Competition and World-Class Infrastructure to American Cities

In the following video, President Obama announced several steps his Administration is taking to encourage municipally-owned broadband networks, as well as the rationale for taking them. A few weeks after the president’s January 14 speech, the FCC announced it would be voting on a similar approach to municipal broadband at its February 26 meeting, where it will also vote on a proposal to classify broadband access as a Title II common carrier. Since community broadband is a topic I hope to write about here in the future, and the Commission’s meeting is only two weeks away, I thought I’d share some initial […]

11 Feb 2015

Social Media and Social Movements: An Evolving Relationship

2015-02-11
Mitchell Shapiro
Blog

I recently read an article by Hamza Shaban with the provocative title “How Social Media Can Weaken a Revolution.” The primary focus of the piece was a Journal of International Affairs paper with a more scholarly title, “Social Movements and Governments in the Digital Age: Evaluating a Complex Landscape.” The article also contained comments from the paper’s author, Zeynep Tufekci, an assistant professor at the School of Information at the University of North Carolina, and a faculty associate at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society. As its title suggests, Tufekci’s paper examines the evolving dynamic between digitally-empowered social […]

10 Feb 2015

Wonder What Greece’s Finance Minister is Thinking? Read His Blog.

2015-02-10
Mitchell Shapiro
Blog

As someone who believes the Euro, as structured and managed today, is a deeply flawed system that has pushed Greece (and other nations) into a deep and prolonged depression, I was excited about Syriza’s recent victory and hopeful that the new Greek government could negotiate a deal with other Euro members to ease the pain of its citizens, and begin transitioning the Euro toward a fuller and healthier economic integration among its member states. But, according to this post on the Naked Capitalism blog, the latest signs are not good for this kind of positive outcome. Though I’m tempted to […]

05 Feb 2015

Please Help Me Understand What’s Wrong with Title II

2015-02-05
Mitchell Shapiro
Blog

In a blog entry here yesterday I described FCC Chairman Wheeler’s Title II proposal as “replanting the roots” of communication policy in the digital age. Shortly after I posted it, the Commission released a four-page summary of the proposed “New Rules for Protecting the Open Internet.” Not surprisingly, the document triggered a barrage of public responses from a range of interested parties on both sides of the issue. After reviewing the FCC’s Fact Sheet and some of these responses, I found myself puzzled about claims regarding risks and problems associated with Title II classification. So I thought I’d invite comments […]

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