Comments on: Quit fooling with wireless-spectrum auction
Gregory Rosston of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research says recent moves by FCC chairman threaten successful history of auctions.
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"Through a complex and convoluted process, ignoring any rational economic input, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin determined how to slice and dice the spectrum"
I don't see why there should have been any economic input when dividing up the spectrum. Technological and physical constraints on bandwidth and noise limits the amount of options one would have in splitting up the 700MHz Spectrum. If Chairman Martin started arbitrairly splitting up the spectrum by the best economic adivce, There would be very few devices that could be used. If that's too complex and convoluted for economists, then perhaps they should go back to colledge.
"Through a complex and convoluted process, ignoring any rational economic input, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin determined how to slice and dice the spectrum"
I don't see why there should have been any economic input when dividing up the spectrum. Technological and physical constraints on bandwidth and noise limits the amount of options one would have in splitting up the 700MHz Spectrum. If Chairman Martin started arbitrairly splitting up the spectrum by the best economic adivce, There would be very few devices that could be used. If that's too complex and convoluted for economists, then perhaps they should go back to colledge.
Depending on the auction results, USA will shrink to a white dwarf or evolve into a super nova.
The FCC could solve all of their problems make make management of the spectrum infinitely simpler if the would establish a device specification and protocol for using the spectrum, such that OEM's could produce devices that will comply (through programming) with the specific restrictions of the RF bands it is using. If the specification included position awareness (Read as GPS, or equivalent) then it could dynamically adjust its spectrum usage based upon location, and adjust its power level based upon the type of device and its proximity to other devices.
Routing of wireless digital information by physical location, eliminates the issue that the Internet has today (finite addresses) and the needed for NAT Tables, and hierarchial structure. Routing by physical location also brings a significant level of security, since you can not reasonably fake a broadcast GPS signal, and it is assured to be globally unique.
A device and protocol standard such as this could be dynamic, fault tolerant, and then easily managed by the FCC. They could reallocate whole blocks of spectrum in relatively short order, by geographic region without disabling or disrupting anyones services or devices. The devices would simply update their frequency/power tables and change their operation accordingly without the user even noticing a change in functionality.
Be assured that if this auction does occur you will have to pay for the propganda that gets spewed over the spectrum in the following years, because your government (the FCC) sold you, the consumer, out to big telco once again. No one should own the airwaves, make lisences apply to devices not to corperations. Freedom of speech needs to be expanded to freedom of communication, and wireless communication is the one that can truely be free. Free for all to use, free of service charges, free of taxes, and free of rigid infrastructure, free of limits.
Depending on the auction results, USA will shrink to a white dwarf or evolve into a super nova.
The FCC could solve all of their problems make make management of the spectrum infinitely simpler if the would establish a device specification and protocol for using the spectrum, such that OEM's could produce devices that will comply (through programming) with the specific restrictions of the RF bands it is using. If the specification included position awareness (Read as GPS, or equivalent) then it could dynamically adjust its spectrum usage based upon location, and adjust its power level based upon the type of device and its proximity to other devices.
Routing of wireless digital information by physical location, eliminates the issue that the Internet has today (finite addresses) and the needed for NAT Tables, and hierarchial structure. Routing by physical location also brings a significant level of security, since you can not reasonably fake a broadcast GPS signal, and it is assured to be globally unique.
A device and protocol standard such as this could be dynamic, fault tolerant, and then easily managed by the FCC. They could reallocate whole blocks of spectrum in relatively short order, by geographic region without disabling or disrupting anyones services or devices. The devices would simply update their frequency/power tables and change their operation accordingly without the user even noticing a change in functionality.
Be assured that if this auction does occur you will have to pay for the propganda that gets spewed over the spectrum in the following years, because your government (the FCC) sold you, the consumer, out to big telco once again. No one should own the airwaves, make lisences apply to devices not to corperations. Freedom of speech needs to be expanded to freedom of communication, and wireless communication is the one that can truely be free. Free for all to use, free of service charges, free of taxes, and free of rigid infrastructure, free of limits.
New Zealand moved in the late 1980s to take bureaucrats out of the picture and their success since the reform has been dramatic. That only makes sense. A free market in wireless spectrum would allow the dynamism of the market to work its magic on wireless communication.
Rather than dealing with last minute changes, like those from Chairman Martin, let's remove the airwaves from the political sphere. This way, no it would be impossible to impose rules that hurt consumers and competition at the benefit of a few, politically connected companies.
Communications technology has change a lot since the FCC start in the 1930s, but allocation of the spectrum has changed little since then. While radios have shrunk from refrigerator-sized devices to postage-stamp miniatures, federal regulation has only grown.
Until we remove the bureaucrats from the process, we can expect companies to continue gaming the system while regulations pile up. It's time to change this broken system.
- Auction Is Only First Step to Free Airwaves
- by Cord Blomquist January 23, 2008 4:04 PM PST
- The 700Mhz auction, selling channels 50-69, should be only the beginning of a transfer of airwaves from central government planning to free market ownership.
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(14 Comments)New Zealand moved in the late 1980s to take bureaucrats out of the picture and their success since the reform has been dramatic. That only makes sense. A free market in wireless spectrum would allow the dynamism of the market to work its magic on wireless communication.
Rather than dealing with last minute changes, like those from Chairman Martin, let's remove the airwaves from the political sphere. This way, no it would be impossible to impose rules that hurt consumers and competition at the benefit of a few, politically connected companies.
Communications technology has change a lot since the FCC start in the 1930s, but allocation of the spectrum has changed little since then. While radios have shrunk from refrigerator-sized devices to postage-stamp miniatures, federal regulation has only grown.
Until we remove the bureaucrats from the process, we can expect companies to continue gaming the system while regulations pile up. It's time to change this broken system.