Google wants to know how you'd change broadband

Google has partnered with the New America Foundation to create a community feedback forum for ideas on how to improve broadband in the U.S. Users can submit their ideas, which are voted on by others using Google Moderator's yay or nay system.

The forum will be open for the next two weeks, after which Google is going to take some of the top-voted ideas to its proposal, which is being submitted to the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC will then take some or all of those ideas to congress early next year as part of the economic stimulus plan.

So far, there are a little over 70 ideas from some 270 registered users. Using the service requires signing up with a Google account, however any name can be provided when creating ideas.

Google is using its Moderator product to collect ideas on how to fix broadband.

(Credit: CNET)

[bonesbautista]

1. Get the system to work reliably.
2. Advertise real throughput speeds and expected latencies.
3. Set realistic expectations for rural customers, including installation timelines.

[SteveW928]

Make sure you post it there if you've not done so....
BTW, here was mine:
- Make them do what we already paid for - penalize until they comply. http://www.newnetworks.com/ShortSCANDALSummary.htm
- Force them to work on expansion rather than limitation... they provide bandwidth, not content. Unlimited data / speed tier $.

[RyanShab]

So wait, they're asking people for ideas? Has their crack team of IT gurus run out of ideas? Should they impliment any of these ideas, I hope whoever thought of it gets compensated for it. Way to make money off essentially "open source" ideas.

[SteveW928]

If they actually fix things, that will be compensation enough.

[SteveW928]

Just in case people are having trouble finding it.....
http://moderator.appspot.com/#16/e=a4977

[jhacker]

1. Pay one provider for access on the road and at home.
2. Make broadband available in all rural areas. Provide service in these areas with at least wireless technology at a reasonable cost. Satellite just doesn't cut it.
3. Provide penalties for providers that try to game the system by saying they have a high percentage of availability, when they actually don't.
4. Provide severe penalties for companies that try to limit competition.
5. Eliminate caps, or at least make them reasonable.
6. Quit being so stingy with upstream speed.

[pschwartz_680]

A federally funded project to bring fiberoptic cable everywhere. Some what like the Rural Electrification Act during the depression. And, that no provider can have a monopoly on the service, forcing competition.

[jessiethe3rd]

Google wants your help so they can make they get more advertising from their ad partners.

[gpdimonderose]

nulleggia

[megustansalchichas]

google bought spectrum. google wants ideas on how to sell you access to that spectrum. why in the world does this have to get routed through google? whatever happened to the days when people contacted their government representatives directly? are you all sheep that you buy into this? google shouldn't be the people's defacto representative...

[acousticb1-2009]

infrastructure in the rual areas. COntain the cost where people want to come to u. Do not throttle bandwitth. Also companies can not throttle your bandwith because you use the service alot.

[Liberal-enigma]

Broadband over powerlines. You don't need to run lines to anyones house. If they don't have power then they don't want broadband. Its not perfect but its a start. Its certainly cheaper that fiber. Obviously that would be preferable, but for the moment... plus once we start to use a technology, someone figures a better way or improvement. Lets get started

[mathcreative]

This telchnology I believe interfers w radio communications, because the technology makes the power lines one bigg antenna. Emergency communications go over radio. Read here:http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/bpl-deployment.html

[magicmaster]

Money, money, money. You are not going anywhere unless you show ISP the money.

[Tod Smith]

It's all about the last mile!

[scott_healey]

wireless and wired convergence. a wireless backbone would be easier to deploy and maintain and upgrade.

[alaopennet]

Seriously people, keep the internet out of the hands of the government the two best ideas thus far involve enlisting the help of the Feds which can only end with a fully censored internet. yes Asia ranks as the highest in broadband penetration, yes the government funded the deployment and now Asia is also one of the most censored regions in the world. people in Asia may not even be able to read this page.

[rcorrino]

China is NOT Asia...... Most Asian countries, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines for example do not have their internet censored.

Spying is another issue but that is what encryption is for.

[rcorrino]

Have the government put up the infrastructure (Federal, State, County, City...I don't care) and lease these out to the ISPs. This will bring actual competition and eliminate the monopoly that the telecoms have over us right now. Deregulation will not work. look what happened to AT&T, they just re-merged.

Broadband is no longeer a luxury. It is a utility, just like water and power.

[Matt31415]

Roads and the postal system are already under government control. The reason they are under government control is because it is universally accessed by all people, and it is naturally monopoly forming. Roads, postal service, and data networks act as transports of information, the arteries of the economy so to speak. The health of the economy is critically dependent on these services.

The role of government is to provide infrastructure which greases the wheels of industry. I think it's natural for the government to assume this role in network infrastructure.

At the federal level, there should be a national interconnect to tie the country together with super highways. At the state level, the state's cities should be connected. The municipal level should own the last mile, mandating that fiber is installed for all new development. That fiber should go back to a municipal building, just like water and sewer.