Brent.fm • a technology mixdown

Okay, this post won’t be freeing any whales. Sorry. Dave has a good handle on this. But you will be freeing yourself. Do whatever you want with your free-self.

We know Google already tried to give away wi-fi across many cities. The plan was stopped, Earthlink backed out, it was a mess. The intent is good. Google basically wants to serve more ads. Dialup helps, cable helps, wi-fi helps, fiber optic helps and freeing the tv whitespaces could be the cornerstone in Hawai`i’s future digital economic future. I’m not sure where the Unity cable fits in but rest assured, heaps of nearby cable bandwidth can only help.

In my opinion, Verizon is potentially the most harmful company we have ever experienced in our lifetimes. Harmful for associating “the network” with something of quailty. We all know cellular networks suck. Cell phones are believed to cause cancer in every country but ours. Cell phones without speaker phones are even illegal in automobiles. So we can at least agree they have power. I don’t want to stray too far, but if you have ever had a problem with your cell phone and called “the network” for support, you know where I could go with this.

But I won’t . This is a story of hope. Google knows that if they want to grow, they need more bandwidth to sell and display more ads. It just so happens that more bandwidth also means freedom. As more folks learn about social and political issues around the world, positive change follows. From stopping hunger to stopping genocide, the flow and acceleartion of information during the last ten years has uncovered issues that once went virutally unnoticed. I don’t want to go too far in this direction either but I think we can agree that ignorance levels are lowered when Google search is applied.

Google is adding bandwidth. The phone manufacturers have long held all the bandwidth. The telcos installed telephone lines then underground fiber optic. They want to sell this to you at as high of a price as the market will bear. They have a fiduciary responsibility to do so. That means they have placed themselves in a position of having to legally charge you as much as they can for your cell service. Now that we all use digital signals the wires and the wireless are all the same thing. An example of Verizon charging as much as possible is text messages.

They charge you a completely separate rate for sending text message as they do for email. Aren’t both services text-based? Of course they are. But they tell you it’s two different systems. I don’t doubt they are in their “network” much the way many of us have an old computer that no longer works very well. I’m straying again ut the point is this. Verizon owns tons of bandwidth they are not letting go of until they can figure a new way to charge you for using it. The problem for them is that the cables and wires they sold us are quickly becoming more expensive than air. By air, I mean wireless. While Verizon tries to figure out new ways to sell you air, a new movement is underway.

Google has a new plan. Use cellphones as network devices to give the network away. Case in point, the TV Whiespaces initiative. An open source approach to air. Meaning, we free this huge chunck of bandwidth so it can be used by everyone. 

As TechCrunch points out,

The carriers themselves would resist such a scenario with tooth and nail because they’d become dumb pipe providers that couldn’t lock users into contracts any longer.

The opening of white spaces in particular could lead to more connection points for mobile devices, ones that form an attractive alternative to those provided by wireless carriers. And Android-powered phones could be among the first to take advantage of a flexible connections system.

We’re in a very unique situation here on Hawai`i Island, as are our neighbors, especially the smaller islands where a new wireless network can over the entire island. I have three different options for an internet connection so far off the grid that when the birds hear things on the Internet for the first time, they come and land on my monitor to be closer to the freedom they lack in their own winged lives.

Okay, that’s just a lie. A bird has never landed on my monitor. Although I do drive them a little nuts sometimes when I play recordings of other birds from other places on the island. Kinda freaks’em out I think? I’m straying again, no point here.

Back to the point of the post. With increased availability and speed you can connect to the Internet from anywhere. You can work from home. You can work from the park. You can work in the woods as I do and you can teach your children about the issues going on around the world. Verizon is choking this effort by charging you too much for a “network” they believe belongs to them. It’s air. It’s not their air. It’s our air.

As reported in Unwiredview.com, Google has applied for a patent which in part, would enable them to,

Create a transparent auction marketplace with wireless providers bidding in real time to provide the communication services to users.

For example (from Unwiredview.com)

As one example, when in a home, the device may use a broadband communication method for which the user already pays a fixed monthly rate. When the user leaves the house, they may be transferred to a metropolitan network, which may be part of the same plan as the home plan, with monthly pricing, with use-based pricing, or with free use supported by advertising. When the user exits the metropolitan area, where free or low-rate pricing may not be possible, the system and methods may permit the user to transfer to a pay-for-use network. In addition to cost as a factor in selecting appropriate telecommunications providers, users may opt for alternative auction models based on maximal bandwidth offered, best coverage/reliability, or some combination of options.

 Please also read:

Full Story: Google wants to disintermediate cellular market too