Wireless Internet

The internet is a powerful enabler for social change; yet, for 34 million Americans it remains out of reach. A disproportionate number of these people include vulnerable populations such as low-income families or individuals, seniors, and adults living with a disability. Mobile Beacon works hand-in-hand with community organizations to create digital inclusion programs that provide the internet to the people that need it most. Together, we help connect people to this vital tool to improve their lives. That’s why we’re offering the to help you create programs that will really take off. When you become one of our pilot sites, you’ll have access to the full which includes:

25 donated 4G LTE mobile hotspots
FREE unlimited 4G LTE data plans during the pilot program
25 donated Lenovo Thinkpad E560 laptops

Pilot applications should have a clear focus on how mobile, high-speed internet will make a tangible change for the people you serve. Provide as much detail as you need to explain what you plan to do and how you will measure your impact.

The internet of things (IoT) is about more than just connecting widgets to networks and to each other, according to Dish Network CEO Charlie Ergen. It’s also about providing access for those who might not otherwise have it.

Dish spent $6.2 billion to buy licenses during the auction of 600 MHz that wrapped up in 2017, far exceeding the expectations of most analysts and adding low-band airwaves to its significant holdings of mid-band spectrum. The company outlined plans to build a narrow band IoT network to provide connectivity to a wide range of devices other than traditional tablets and smartphones. But people are also a key component of the IoT, Ergen observed. “Where we are focused as a company is really on the connectivity side,” Ergen said. “We have a lot of spectrum that we’ve acquired over the years that can be used in a wireless way to connect communities and people and things.” For that connectivity to be fully leveraged, though, it must be accessible to as many users as possible, Ergen continued. That not only includes consumers in urban areas—a key segment of the emerging IoT market—but also those in outlying areas who may not have reliable access to networks through wireless or fixed-line services. “For smart cities, that’s going to be an important thing so that you can connect more efficiently regarding street lights or garbage cans or parking tickets or air quality or whatever it’s going to be. I think we can play a role in that as a company and we get excited about that piece of it,” he said. “When you really get into connectivity, as long as everybody has access to that connectivity on an equal basis, then it’s what they do with it…. You don’t want red-line networks where certain people can’t get access to parts of the network when other people can. You’ve got to bring those people together, and then it’s their game and they make of it what you can.”

You'll soon be able to text on any Delta flight for free. Delta flights worldwide will have free texting through a Gogo app, starting Oct 1. Free messaging will be available on Gogo-enabled Delta flights for planes with two or more cabins. Travelers will be able to access the feature through Delta's Wi-Fi portal page, airborne.gogoinflight.com. Delta has 1,300 planes worldwide and all but 130 of them have Wi-Fi, according to a Delta spokeswoman.

It is ironic that at the very moment the public is debating whether reliance on four-firm competition is enough to protect small businesses and consumers, the Federal Communications Commission declares "mission accomplished." We shouldn’t ignore how four-firm competition, data roaming rules, spectrum screens and other regulations adopted by previous Administrations continue to benefit consumers. At the same time, we cannot ignore the continuing problems of concentration -- particularly in rural markets and for low-income Americans. The purpose of the Competition Report is to provide an important tool for Congress and the American people to understand the wireless market. It is not intended to put a happy face on an industry that remains concentrated by conventional antitrust metrics.

The Federal Communications Commission approved its 20th Annual Mobile Wireless Competition Report. For the first time since 2009, the FCC makes an affirmative finding that the metrics assessed in the Report indicate that there is effective competition in the marketplace for mobile wireless services. The 20th Report concludes that competition continues to play an essential role in the mobile wireless marketplace, driving innovation and investment to the benefit of the American people and economy.

Margarita Aponte and her relatives cleared the road in front of her house with two oxen Sept 24, then drove an hour from her devastated hometown in central Puerto Rico to the old telegraph building in the capital of San Juan. There, thousands of Puerto Ricans gathered for a chance at a resource nearly as precious as power and water in the wake of Hurricane Maria — communication. “It’s ringing, it’s ringing, it’s ringing!”

Aponte, a janitor, screamed as her phone connected to free Wi-Fi and her Facetime call went through to the mainland. Her eyes filled with tears as she talked with nephews, uncles, brothers and sisters in Florida and Massachusetts for the first time since Maria destroyed nearly every cellphone and fiber optic connection on this US territory of 3.4 million people. The low murmur at one of two free Wi-Fi hotspots is occasionally interrupted by the cheering of someone getting through the largely jammed network. Most spend hours frowning at their phones, unable to connect. “There’s no communication. We’re in God’s hands,” Yesenia Gomez, a kitchen worker, said as she left a message for her mother in the neighboring Dominican Republic. Dozens of other Puerto Ricans opted to pull over to the side of the road along various highways where cellphone signals were strongest.

Future 5G networks aim at providing new high-quality wireless services to meet stringent and case-specific needs of various vertical sectors beyond traditional mobile broadband offerings. 5G is expected to disrupt the mobile communication business ecosystem and open the market to drastically new sharing based network operational models. 5G technical features of network slicing and small cell deployments in higher carrier frequencies will lower the investment barrier for new entrants to deploy local radio access networks and offer vertical specific services in specific areas and allow them lease the remaining required infrastructure on demand from mobile network operators (MNO) or infrastructure vendors.

To realize the full vision of 5G to benefit the society and promote competition, innovation and emergence of new services when the 5G end-to-end network spans across different stakeholders administrative domains, the existing regulations governing the mobile communication business ecosystem are being refined. This paper provides a tutorial overview on how 5G innovations impact mobile communications and reviews the regulatory elements relevant to 5G development for locally deployed networks. This paper expands the recent micro licensing model for local spectrum authorization in future 5G systems and provides guidelines for the development of the key micro licensing elements. This local micro licensing model can open the mobile market by allowing different stakeholders to deploy local small cell networks with locally issued spectrum licenses ensuring pre-defined quality guarantees for the vertical sectors’ case specific needs.

Indigenous peoples living on tribal lands are some of the most underserved people in the US when it comes to broadband. Many tribes share similar barriers no matter where they are in the country. But one group of tribes in southern California is using every tool it can think of, including using television spectrum to broadcast internet wirelessly. Unfortunately, they've run into one totally unique hurdle: TV channels are bleeding over the border from Mexico, and eating up their spectrum.

In filings about the Federal Communications Commission’s forthcoming wireless-competition report, Free Press called out FCC Chairman Ajit Pai for misrepresenting the state of broadband investment following the agency’s 2015 network neutrality ruling.

The FCC is required by statute to compile this annual report to Congress on the state of the wireless industry. The 20th annual report is the first edition to come due during Pai’s chairmanship. The report is on the docket for the FCC’s next monthly meeting, which will take place on Sept. 26. During that meeting, the commissioners will consider and then vote on adoption of the final report. Chairman Pai released the draft of this annual report earlier this month. In a recent speech at an industry conference, Chairman Pai claimed that this draft contains evidence that wireless-industry capital investment declined from 2015 to 2016. He suggested that this decline is due to the FCC’s February 2015 Title II reclassification decision and adoption of open-internet rules.

Free Press sent a letter to Pai condemning the chairman for misusing this report and “once again misleading the public” to advance his “irrational vendetta” against the Net Neutrality rules the FCC put in place during the Obama administration. “The easily verifiable truth is that wireless-industry investments peaked in 2013, as carriers completed the bulk of 4G LTE deployments,” the Free Press letter reads. “Both that peak, and the ongoing decline from it, predate the entire proceeding that led to the 2015 reclassification of broadband as a lightly regulated Title II service. What’s more, this is by no means the only years-long downturn for the wireless sector: Such periods of slower spending are natural — and, in the recent past, have likewise occurred outside of recessions.” The Free Press letter includes detailed analysis that proves that this fluctuating trend is part of a larger pattern of investment that has nothing to do with the rules the FCC adopted to prevent internet-access providers from blocking, throttling or otherwise discriminating against the online communications of internet users. The letter also notes that many previous agency reports on wireless competition specifically caution against misinterpretation of short-term investment data. Yet the draft of Pai’s report provides no such historical context — and no warnings about investment patterns.

At first glance, Freeway looks like a good app. Through partnerships with content providers and mobile networks, Freeway can let users on limited wireless rate plans use services like YouTube, Facebook, and Spotify without eating into their precious data allowance. In return, Freeway charges a couple bucks per month through a mobile app, and also leverages sponsorships. In theory, it’s a neat way to help consumers access services without paying for an unlimited data plan or massive overage fees. But in practice, it creates the exact kind of anti-competitive environment net neutrality advocates are so afraid of.

Freeway has a couple different packages and tiers, all with different pricing that varies by carrier:

• Basic Bundle: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify
• “Headphones In”: Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, Pandora, Spotify, and SoundCloud
• “Data Defense”: Sports bundle with ESPN, Facebook, LiveScore, MLB.com Ballpark, MLS, NBA, NBC Sports, Twitter, and Yahoo! Fantasy Sports
• “Study Break”: Bumble, HBO Now, Instagram, Lyft, Spotify, Starbucks, Tinder, Twitter, Venmo, and YouTube
• “Backseat Drivers”: “Cut the Rope: Magic,” Disney Junior, Nick Junior, PBS Kids Video, YouTube Kids

Two things stand out about the packages: they sound a lot like cable bundles; and they’re comprised only of brands you’ve heard of. That’s because Freeway is essentially pay-to-play: only the big companies are worth partnering with (or can afford to sponsor data), so you’re only going to see big names on there.