Review on "FCC Approves Flawed Net Neutrality Rule" (American Civil Liberties Union Release, 12/21/10)

Continuing my thoughts on my last blog post, thankfully, the FCC approved a net neutrality rule. Unfortunately, it wasn't all too helpful.

"The rule approved today by the FCC includes full network neutrality protections for the wired Internet, which includes cable and DSL service to homes and businesses, but provides lesser protections for wireless broadband service and may allow wireless broadband providers to block certain applications and services that compete with their own applications and services."

Why are wireless Internet users getting the freeze out? While this puts people with wired Internet services leaps and bounds ahead, wireless users are getting jipped by this rule.

According to a New York Times article, though, "nearly 98 percent of American homes now have access to some form of high-speed broadband, but " roughly 20 percent of American adults who do not use the Internet at home, work and school, or by mobile device, a figure essentially unchanged since Barack Obama took office as president in 2009 and initiated a $7 billion effort to expand access, chiefly through grants to build wired and wireless systems in neglected areas of the country."

Many people still don't have Internet, or use it. There are of course more traditional ways to stay informed or learn new things, but the vastness and convenience of the Internet today almost can't compare to going to your local library or reading your subscription to The New York Times. 

Review on Sam Gustin's "American broadband infrastructure: A national embarrassment" (DailyFinance.com, 8/26/09)

When I first read this article, I thought to myself, "Wow, if you just changed 'U.S.' to Ithaca College, or more specifically, the Roy H. Park School of Communications, referring to the broadband, or Internet service..."

MINI RANT: We're a COMMUNICATIONS SCHOOL and we can't get good INTERNET service? Almost everything I do for classes, clubs, etc relies on a good Internet connection. This website gives the rankings of how bad it is. I've literally left the building because the lack of Internet service prohibits me from doing homework.

But to solve our problem, we need to solve the larger problem at hand, which is the U.S. broadband service. Now, this article was written in 2009, and I'm not sure what the progress is on Obama's spending plan for broadband is. But at the pace we're going, "the U.S. won't catch up to South Korea -- the nation with the fastest broadband speed, at 20.4 mbps -- for 15 years." WHAT!