Thread: FCC releases Internet speed test tool UPDATED PLAN

Effort to widen Internet access sets up battle

F.C.C. proposal will influence billions of dollars in federal spending

By Brian Stelter and Jenna Wortham
updated 2:39 a.m. PT, Sat., March. 13, 2010

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing an ambitious 10-year plan that will reimagine the nation’s media and technology priorities by establishing high-speed Internet as the country’s dominant communication network.

The plan, which will be submitted to Congress on Tuesday, is likely to generate debate in Washington and a lobbying battle among the telecommunication giants, which over time may face new competition for customers. Already, the broadcast television industry is resisting a proposal to give back spectrum the government wants to use for future mobile service.

The blueprint reflects the government’s view that broadband Internet is becoming the common medium of the United States, gradually displacing the telephone and broadcast television industries. It also signals a shift at the F.C.C., which under the administration of President George W. Bush gained more attention for policing indecency on the television airwaves than for promoting Internet access.

According to F.C.C. officials briefed on the plan, the commission’s recommendations will include a subsidy for Internet providers to wire rural parts of the country now without access, a controversial auction of some broadcast spectrum to free up space for wireless devices, and the development of a new universal set-top box that connects to the Internet and cable service.

The effort will influence billions of dollars in federal spending, although the F.C.C. will argue that the plan should pay for itself through the spectrum auctions. Some recommendations will require Congressional action and industry support, and will affect users only years from now.

Still, “each bullet point will trigger its own tortuous battle,â€

Obama Broadband Internet Plan Short on Details,
First Wave of Grants In April

The Obama administration yesterday unveiled the first steps of its plan to pour $8 billion into the construction of new broadband Internet networks around the nation. And while many details haven't been finalized on how the stimulus money will be spent and who will qualify for the grants, interest in the high-speed Internet plan was high.

Long lines stretched outside the Commerce Department building, where the three federal agencies in charge of the broadband stimulus plan hosted the first of seven public meetings. Lobbyists, telecommunications service providers from as far as Arizona and community organizers from Seattle stood in lines that stretched outside the building. They later filled the 400-person auditorium and two overflow rooms.

"I don't think we've had this many people in the Commerce Department since it was built," said Bernadette McGuire-Rivera, associate administrator of the department's telecommunications policy office, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration.

The NTIA said it plans to have three rounds of funding for broadband grants, with the first funds available as early as next month through June. The grants must be awarded by Sept. 30, 2010, and the government must ensure projects are mostly complete within two years. Applicants must also show the project would not have occurred but for the stimulus funding.

Obama has touted the stimulus provision for broadband Internet networks as a way to generate jobs right away; workers will be needed to dig more trenches to lay down fiber and put up more cell towers. He's also focused on broadband as a key to creating valuable high-paying jobs in the future that can help lift troubled economies.

"Without ubiquitous broadband, our citizens -- our country -- will lack the competitive tools necessary for success in the 21st century," said Michael Copps, acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

For carriers and consumers, the funds represent a potential business boon amid the economic drought that has dried up credit markets to fund new projects.

The three agencies in charge of broadband plans include the NTIA, which will oversee $4.7 billion in stimulus funds. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will distribute $2.5 billion in grants and loans. The FCC has been given $350 million to create a better data collection system with a mapping program showing what services are provided in every geography of the nation. The FCC is also supposed to come up with a plan within one year to bring broadband Internet to all Americans. The remainder of the $8 billion will go to administration costs, subsidy programs for low-income users, and audits of the grants.

But before doling out the money, the agencies said they will host a series of public meetings to get comments about how best to implement the program. The next meetings in Washington D.C. will be March 16, 19, 23 and 24. Field hearings will be held on March 17 and 18, respectively.

Mark Seifert, a senior adviser for the NTIA said the agency decided to host the public meetings after receiving more than 2,000 requests for private meetings from telecom companies and other interested parties.

At the hearings and on the NTIA's public comments Web site, interested parties can make recommendations. The stimulus plan was broadly worded in a way that can include wireless, fiber optic and cable networks and the agencies said they will take into consider which technologies make the most sense from an economic and technological perspective for the area served.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postte ... _plan.html

COMMENTS

You have got to be kidding me? Pushing out this amount of money in this short of time is insane and makes NO sense. This should be done only after the development of a valid Broadband survey.

Giving the USDA more money when they do a poor job now, defies common sense. Change the USDA Telecommunications Program senior staff, and you might have a chance. Without that change in management at the operational level it will be a MAJOR mistake. We deserve better from the USDA Telecommunications Program but, change is needed PLEASE!

Posted by: Zelda01 | March 11, 2009 6:27 AM

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"Obama Broadband Internet Plan Short on Details"

pretty much substitute anything you want in for "broadband internet"

Posted by: Waffle1 | March 11, 2009 7:54 AM

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The only real valid broadband technologies for rural penetration are WiMax and LTE wireless technologies. Therefore just give the 8 Billion to the wireless carriers and force them to use the money to develop wireless broadband in rural areas where cell service already exists. No need for these silly grants to small companies and meetings that will accomplish nothing and waste the money.

Posted by: icmp | March 11, 2009 1:40 PM

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Keeping up with the "jones's" isn't a good reason to spend 8 billion dollars.

Using France as an example or South Korea, is hardly a valid comparison.

Taking the time to evaluate what is really needed for the long term should be the goal, not meeting an arbitrary pie in the sky date of 2010.

Giving the USDA more money without changes to the current operational management is just perpetuating and encouraging more of the same outdated ineffectual decisions but, with even more money…….


Posted by: Zelda01 | March 11, 2009 1:47 PM

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What a huge waste of taxpayer monies! Just because people have access does not mean they can afford the monthly bills to support broadband.
This turkey reminds of the fiber optic cable mania a few years ago that no one talks about today.

Posted by: morningglory51 | March 11, 2009 4:26 PM

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speedtest.net
I'm in eastern europe right now, I get higher speeds to Los Angeles from here than I could get from most places I lived in the states.

Why? Because I have a fiber connection. The telecomms in the US find they get a higher return on investment paying lawyers to bribe legislators to pass laws supporting their copper monopolies than they would get by investing in better technology.

That's what you get when executroids are running technology companies.

Let me spew some self-righteousness here: How DARE you money-grubbing pricks suppress advanced technology in the US. How can it possibly be that I get better speeds 6750 miles from Los Angeles than I can get from San Diego?

Posted by: khote14 | March 11, 2009 5:16 PM

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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postte ... _plan.html

Obama Appointee Says Price Hikes by Broadband Providers 'Raise A Red Flag' for the FCC

Thursday, March 11, 2010
By Susan Jones, Associated Press

(CNSNews.com) - Rich or poor, disabled or healthy, young or old – the Obama administration says every American should have access to high-speed Internet in their own homes, even if it costs American taxpayers billions of dollars to accomplish that goal.

Universal broadband access is a key element of the Federal Communications Commissions' national broadband plan, which will be delivered to President Obama and the Congress on March 16.

On Wednesday, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, an Obama appointee, frowned on recent price hikes by broadband providers, calling it an “ominousâ€

MORE COMMENTS

jrobinson (1 day ago)
The worst part is what comes next: when the government is your ISP; whatever you do online can become a federal crime. You think you'll be downloading music? Movies? Just wait! Today, if Sony catches you downloading a movie, they have to subpoena your ISP to get your name to file a civil suit in court. Now they'll just be able to call the police... who will come in your home and take all your hardware. But don't worry if you don't have govt broadband service... I'm sure the govt will claim it is all their business anyway because at some point it'll pass through their networks.

lel2007 (2 days ago)
That part where obama's gang talks about industry cooperating to make internet available to everyone, I think that's more of 'spread the wealth'. No wonder broadband providers are raising rates, they know what's coming. And besides controlling communications, obama will have a solid grasp on Commerce.

call me roy (1 day ago)
Just a couple of simple questions. We are broke, right? The states are closing schools as fast as the Administrators can get the approval from the Teachers Unions. So who is going to pay for this? The Communist Chinese are not going to loan us any more money. OK, we are all agreed on that. Secondly, the only way the government can get more money is either to raise taxes or help create more jobs, NOT government jobs, they don't count. Ok, we are all agreed on that. So, we need to create more private sector jobs. There is only one way to do that. The Communist Chinese send us hundreds of billions of dollars of contaminated junk and they don't buy anything from us. These globalist liars that tell you we have to have international trade are wrong. They will tell you that we have to have fair trade. We have never fair trade. If we don't fix this, our country will fail. It's only taken a decade of these failures to bring us here and now. We have all been lied to again and again.

democratsarefascists (2 days ago)
So....rather than provide Broadband to all AREAS, as Bush intended, Obama wants you and me to pay for access for everybody, thereby crippling the capacity that is there now, and forcing us to pay for everyone else's coverage in addition to our own.

txrep (2 days ago)
This is the kind of thing that makes me want to slit my wrist! I have never actually "hated" an administration before, but I hate this one with every fiber of my being. We are on the fast track to socialism or worse. If this administration is not stopped, we are doomed as a country. November can not get here fast enough! In the meantime, please God, have mercy of the United States of America and stop this nonsense.

Yea. Why do they need an address to test the internet speed? And they ask for an EXACT address too. They are not just asking what city you live in...but the EXACT address.

What good does it do for us folks who are out in the stix? It isn't cost effective to hook up broadband out here. Besides, what would the cost be to support the few homes out in the toolies.

My wireless setup may be dodgy from time to time, but it's cheap.

Originally Posted by Skip

SPEED TEST, NO QUESTIONS ASKED

http://speakeasy.net/speedtest/

http://speedtest.digis.net/

http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest?more=1

THANKS.
Those will tell us what our speed is,
problems is they won't tell the FCC where the slow speed areas are so that they can improve them.

Originally Posted by Hylander_1314

What good does it do for us folks who are out in the stix? It isn't cost effective to hook up broadband out here. Besides, what would the cost be to support the few homes out in the toolies.

My wireless setup may be dodgy from time to time, but it's cheap.

What they want to do is see that people like you get the same quality broadband as everyone else,
at the same price.

I have ATT DSL. It isn't the fastest in the west but then I only pay $10 a month for it.
If they want to give me more speed at the same price I'm interested.
If I have to pay more for it I'm not interested.

Yeah, but if they want to "even out the playing field" that usually means big government subsidies. With what money? And from whom? I worry that it would end up like AMTRAK, or the Post Office.