Start-up wants to provide free broadband

M2Z is a small wireless start-up with a big goal: free broadband for the masses. Milo Medin, M2Z's chairman and co-founder and a broadband pioneer, wants the ad-supported service to ultimately be available to 95% of the USA. To make that happen, the company must snag a chunk of wireless airwaves being auctioned next year by the Federal Communications Commission. If all goes according to plan, free broadband could be available as early as fall 2009. The free service, if it launches, would run at 768 kilobits a second, 10 times faster than dial-up. Big wireless carriers currently charge a lot more — $60 to $80 a month — for a lot less, 400 to 500 kilobits or so. Premium services at higher speeds — 3 to 6 megabits initially, Medin guesses — would start at just $20 a month. M2Z plans to have its services built into laptops, home routers and other portable devices. Medin says the company is "in discussions" with a number of major device makers but declines to say which ones. For consumers, built-in service means "instant installation," Medin says. "You'll go to Best Buy or Target, buy a (Web-enabled device), turn it on — and you're connected." M2Z's success hinges on whether it is able to buy wireless spectrum known as advanced wireless services-3, or AWS-3. The spectrum could fetch $50 million, at least. A number of companies are eyeing the block. Wireless carriers are grousing about M2Z's plan, saying the new service could cause service disruptions for their data customers. The most vocal opponent, by far, is T-Mobile. It spent $4 billion two years ago to buy the AWS-1 block, which abuts the now-idle AWS-3 spectrum. Medin says incumbents are just trying to throw out roadblocks. Why? Because they don't want to compete against free broadband, he says.