[10440] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
L.A. Times column, 7/22/96
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Gary Chapman)
Mon Jul 22 21:15:03 1996
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 18:46:14 -0500 (CDT)
From: Gary Chapman <gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
The following is my syndicated column in today's (7/22/96) Los Angeles
Times. This
column will appear in upcoming weeks in The Boston Globe, The San Jose
Mercury News, and other newspapers around the U.S. and overseas.
-- Gary
Gary Chapman
Director
The 21st Century Project
LBJ School of Public Affairs
Drawer Y, University Station
University of Texas
Austin, TX 78713
(512) 471-8326
Electronic mail: gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu
http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/21cp/
INNOVATION
Giving Wireless Access to Those Who Need It
By GARY CHAPMAN
Copyright 1996, The Los Angeles Times
One paradox about the push to wire schools, libraries and other public
agencies to the Internet is that budgets for all of these institutions are
falling -- indeed, the entire public sector is under attack.
This paradox applies to poor people as well. Growing income inequality
means that low-income people have greater difficulties affording or getting
access to the technologies they need to learn in order to get better jobs.
This downward spiral, familiar to those at the bottom of society, is only
going to get worse as affluent neighborhoods, wealthy schools and
high-skilled workers accelerate away from everyone else.
So it's heartening to see one company, Apple Computer, thinking creatively
about what to do about this problem. Apple has been shaken lately by bad
financial news, but it still is home to some real visionaries.
A year ago, Apple petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to
release a portion of the radio frequency spectrum for unlicensed wireless
digital communications. Apple called this the "NII Band" -- for national
information infrastructure -- and proposed a bandwidth of 300 megahertz in
the 5-gigahertz range (5150-5300 MHz and 5725-5875 MHz).
Now the FCC is taking public comment on this proposal before its formal
rule making. FCC Chairman Reed Hundt announced in May that he intends to
set aside the bandwidth spectrum that Apple suggested, and even increase it
by 50 MHz. This is a surprising move to some, because spectrum auctions
recently conducted by the FCC have raised tens of billions of dollars for
the federal government. The bandwidth reserved for unlicensed digital
wireless networking could be worth tens of billions more.
What does all this mean for schools, libraries, health facilities and
neighborhoods?
A wireless local area network would let schools put computers in any
classroom without the need for expensive rewiring through concrete walls or
across far-flung campuses. Libraries, which are typically cramped for
space, could locate computers where they're needed and where they're likely
to be used.
Health-care facilities could have terminals throughout the building,
supplemented by hand-held computers and even computers on rolling carts.
Neighborhoods could use free wireless bandwidth for digital information
kiosks, pay-per-use Internet terminals, public transit information stations
and community networking.
And most important, free public access to unlicensed bandwidth of the radio
spectrum would allow schools, libraries, government offices and community
computer networks to get onto the information superhighway without having
to pay for a commercial wire for each of their computers. They would pay
only for the Internet service itself. And the bandwidth set aside by the
FCC is enough for high-speed data transmissions -- up to 24 megabits per
second or more -- and for large numbers of users.
Through a new consortium called WinForum, large wireless companies
including AT&T, Motorola, Nortel and Ericsson have backed the idea of
unlicensed wireless services. But WinForum says they should be limited to
the inside of buildings lest they create unfair competition for new
commercial wireless services known as personal communications services, or
PCS.
Apple's original proposal envisioned outdoor digital networks with roughly
17 to 25 miles of range, sufficient for most U.S. communities. Apple
officials, including Jim Lovette, the principal architect of this
initiative, say the FCC's proposed rule doesn't go far enough in supporting
outdoor networking.
This unlicensed bandwidth would be available to everyone -- using it would
be comparable to being a ham radio operator. It wouldn't be a universal
solution for Internet access, though: There would be capacity limits,
interference and a general level of service quality too low for some
applications. And the transmission speeds on this kind of network fall well
short of what's possible over fiber-optic cable.
Lovette says that the use of this bandwidth will depend on the competence
and speed-to-market of vendors who can make equipment for it. But he
estimates that commercial products could be on the market for outdoor
networks within six months from the FCC ruling, which is due in the spring
of 1997 but could come earlier.
The shared public bandwidth proposal is one of those rare win-win ideas --
the federal government gets out of the way, and people take over. Lovette
cautions, however, that this is not a done deal.
To get involved, send your thoughts to the FCC. You can do this by e-mail,
to the address 96-102@FCC.GOV, or mail comments to the Federal
Communications Commission, Public Comment Item 96-102, Washington DC 20554.
The public comment period runs until Aug. 14. Relevant documents can be
found on the Web at
http://www.warpspeed.com/appleniipetitionrelate_332.html and
http://www.atg.apple.com/research/niiband/
Gary Chapman is director of The 21st Century Project at the University of
Texas at Austin. He can be reached at gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu
