Tag Archives: rural broadband

The Open Internet and Rural Broadband

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On April 8th, (yes, that was just this last Friday during the big budget debate) the House passed   H. J. RES. 37 concerning the openess of the internet. This is what the bill says, in its entirelty: 

    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission relating to the matter of preserving the open Internet and broadband industry practices (Report and Order FCC 10-201, adopted by the Commission on December 21, 2010), and such rule shall have no force or effect.

So, what does that mean? Here is the text of Report and Order FCC 10-201. It is concerned with the limitiations that internet service providers are allowed to place on users and content. It significantly curtails “the ability of broadband providers to favor or disfavor Internet traffic to the detriment of innovation, investment, competition, public discourse, and end users.” In other words, it keeps the internet open and accessible. H. J. RES. 37 would kill the FCC’s ability to keep the internet neutral.

The Senate version is S.J.RES.6. and has not been passed yet. Need I mention that this may indeed be the perfect time to contact your Senator to ensure that this resolution not be passed?

In other congressional news, a new bill, HR 1083 – Rural Broadband Initiative Act, introduced March 15th, amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to establish in the Department of Agriculture (USDA) the Office of Rural Broadband Initiatives. Is the USDA the right department to handle rural broadband? Truly, I don’t know, but somebody needs to ensure that broadband reaches us. Frankly, rural broadband is not going to happen if we merely encourage private enterprise to provide it. It’s going to take another act like the ones that brought electricity and telephones to every house in the country.

The bill I really like is Maria Cantwell’s S.74: Internet Freedom, Broadband Promotion, and Consumer Protection Act of 2011. It ensures net neutrality by amending the Communications Act of 1934 which regulates common carriers. Someone has to because corporations won’t.

Broadband? What’s that?

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After listening to the State of the Union address, and hearing the President’s mention of bringing broadband access to rural places, I have one question: what does he mean by broadband? If you can’t use Skype, is it still broadband? What about streaming videos, connecting to virtual private networking, or playing World of Warcraft? If you can’t conference online, what use is it for your small business or farm?

The President was talking about wireless broadband covering our rural spaces. Will it provide these kinds of services, the ones suburban America already enjoys? Satellite certainly doesn’t. Cellphone wireless won’t provide many of them, especially VoIP. In the State of the Union fact sheet, it only discusses high-speed internet, without giving specifications or a timeline of any kind.

It will be interesting to see how this initiative will take shape. Here’s my hope for the best.