On March 15 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) outlined its new National Broadband Plan in a report of its preliminary plans. Its lofty goals are to ensure nation-wide household internet access, establish large and stable networks for “anchor institutions” like schools and hospitals in individual communities, and relocate some of the wireless broadcasting spectrum’s bandwidth.
The most attention grabbing part is the nationalization of internet access. Dubbed the “100 Squared” plan, it aims to give “affordable” 100 Mbps internet access to the 100 million Americans who currently lack any access.
It also plans to ensure that all students are “digitally literate” by the time they graduate high school. The extra support of “anchor institutions” will aid in this goal, as schools would be given guaranteed 1 Gbps internet access.
As much as 500MHz of wireless space may be relocated from broadcasting to cellular data networks.
Though audio and video broadcasters have objected to this move, it has been shown that “of the 300MHz specifically dedicated to services like TV, only about 150MHz is used even in particularly dense population centers.” This change should not affect broadcasting directly; it just changes the prospect of growth from broadcasting to wireless networks.
Would this change even be noticeable? Director of Information Technology Services Brad Weaver says it is difficult to tell. He points out that in the past ten years cellular technology has removed the need for landlines in living units. “That kind of thing will happen on the data front too, but we don’t know how quickly,” said Weaver.
He compared the current 40 Mbps-connection at Wabash to a highway. Other people crowding the space obviously slows a driver down, but even on an empty road every car’s speed is limited by the type of vehicle and a speed limit, or the connection speed. Wabash’s upcoming upgrade to 210 Mbps will “increase the number of lanes available, but not necessarily the speed limit,” Weaver said.
No matter what Wabash’s connection speed is, the top speed available to each individual still relies on the connection to the intermediatory network. Like an upcoming stoplight, drivers will always be limited by the roads that lie ahead of them.
Thus, if the FCC’s change took effect tomorrow, it is unlikely that Americans would notice any change until cellular companies would scramble to upgrade their own technology. Even less comforting, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski admitted that “nothing is definite as it depends on the avenues the government can legally take.”
“History shows that nations that lead technological revolutions reap enormous rewards," said Genachowski. "We can lead the revolution in wired and wireless broadband. But the moment to act is now."
