There is a better way forward: free up the unused airwaves, so that more entrepreneurs can get into the market, build the wireless technologies of tomorrow, and roll out faster, low-cost Internet access. Right now, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering whether to open up a vast, vacant swath of spectrum — the TV “white spaces.” Rather than being sold to private companies via exclusive licenses, this spectrum would be unlicensed, owned by no one and available to everyone.

At Google, we believe that opening up the white spaces would have tremendous benefits not only for companies like ours but also for society in general. That’s why we’ve joined a broad coalition of public interest groups and companies in urging the FCC to “free the airwaves,” and why we’re appealing to you now.

The idea of easier access to less costly — or free — Internet sounds great. It also sounds like something the companies that have spent billions erecting wireless Internet networks will be unhappy about.

We only have to look as far as Verizon Wireless’s fight against Philadelphia’s free muni-Wi-Fi network. It argued that offering a free service that competed with its own 3G network was unfair.

Every other major network operator can make the same argument with respect to white spaces.

The FCC will be voting on the issue in the next month or two. The FCC is already seeing pressure from pols who believe in the idea. What will FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Co. decide?

As regular readers may know, I’m limited to dial-up at home (or costly satellite) so I’m extremely interested in any possible technologies that’ll expand internet access. Especially when said access isn’t limited by the mono- / oligopolies of today.

White space. For some, the term might conjure up memories of art classes or visions of bad page layout. For a group of technology companies, it has a whole different meaning, one that could radically alter the broadband landscape in the US within a couple of years.

The White Spaces Coalition (WSC) is a group of companies devoted to making use of white space in the analog television spectrum to offer wireless broadband. It’s an impressive lineup: Microsoft, Google, Dell, HP, Intel, Philips, Earthlink, and Samsung are the group’s public members; there are also a couple of Coalition members who prefer to remain unknown. The group was in the news recently when it presented a device built by Microsoft to the FCC for testing.

The Coalition is making some strong claims, one of which should catch the eye of broadband lovers everywhere: download speeds of up to 80Mbps to our homes. All of this will happen by using the white spaces in the analog TV spectrum.

It sounds too good to be true, but you know someday we’ll look back at the internet access of today and think “WTF?” Kind of like paying $25 for AOL in the ’90s, or thousands of dollars for a cellphone the size of a brick back in the ’80s.

I think the technology is more than likely feasible; the difficulty will be getting past current (short-sighted + self-interested) internet providers.

Wow. Low cost 80Mbps internet. That’ll just be stupid.

More:
Free The Airwaves courtesy the heads at Google
Wireless Innovation Alliance
central FCC page concerning their ongoing testing
White space tests get mixed results via CNET