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Google Reveals Wireless Vision — Open Networks

Posted by Soulskill on from the optimizing-the-ethertubes dept.

Anti-Globalism writes with this excerpt from CNet: "Google's vision of tomorrow's wireless network is in stark contrast to how wireless operators do business today, setting the two sides on a possible collision course. Earlier this week, the search giant filed a patent application with the US Patent Office describing its vision of an open wireless network where smartphones aren't tied to any single cell phone network. In Google's open wireless world, phones and other wireless devices would search for the strongest, fastest connection at the most competitive price. Essentially, wireless operators' networks would be reduced to 'dumb pipes.'" The full patent application is available as well. Google founder Larry Page recently asked the FCC to free up portions of the broadcast spectrum for this purpose.

6 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. Ok - where do i donate for this ? by unity100 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    did they set up an organization or something ? already buying out lawmakers ? where do i donate ?

    im serious. there is no other way that people's will can be legislated, in current u.s. legal system. you have to BUY the laws.

    so tell me where do we donate. dont say EFF, im already donating there.

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    Read radical news here
    1. Re:Ok - where do i donate for this ? by jcwayne · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You are not required to purchase laws. Think of them as optional services. Buy only what you need. The only required purchase is protection, just ask Microsoft. If they'd given more, sooner that whole anti-trust thing may never have happened.

      Any sufficiently advanced protection racket is indistinguishable from government.

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      Failure to follow this advice may result in non-deterministic behavior.
  2. Patent? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I sincerely hope this isn't all that's in the patent. I wrote about this model for wireless network access about a year ago, and when I was researching the article I came across people with the same idea ten years earlier, who cited even earlier people.

    The big step needed to make it happen is to prevent network operators from offering services. When the state licenses them the bandwidth, it should be on the understanding that they only operate the network, nothing else. Otherwise you get serious problems with competition. It is much cheaper for me to make a phone call than a VoIP call from my mobile phone, even though it's cheaper for the operator to route the VoIP call, because it's in their interests to charge more for bandwidth that can be used for competing services. If the network only provided bandwidth, as my ISP does, then it would be in their interests to allow as many services as possible to flourish, so they could charge me more for usage.

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    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  3. patent? by jipn4 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why is this patentable? People in Europe routinely use cell phones with multiple connectivity options. There are WiFi/3G phones and dual SIM card phones. You can use wireless carriers, callbacks, long distance dial-in, or VoIP over WiFi or 3G. And phones have some logic to pick cheaper combinations. If you really push it, you can manage to get two SIM cards and WiFi into the same phone.

  4. nice by doti · · Score: 5, Funny

    Google is officially my preferred evil overlord.

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    factor 966971: 966971
  5. One very key issue is the Carterfone decision by intrico · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those who don't know, Carterfone(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carterfone) was an extremely important 1968 FCC decision that obsoleted the phone company model of requiring you to lease a device from them to connect to their networks. The passing of this decision is what gives landline users to this day the freedom to connect whatever device they want to their landline.

    Skype petitioned the FCC in 2007 arguing (rightfully so) that the FCC should make the Carterfone rules apply to wireless networks. The FCC chairman Kevin Martin (a member of the business-friendly/consumer-un-friendly Bush Administration) turned it down last year, with a very weak argument basically saying, "Such a move would be premature". Obviously, that translates to, "The wireless companies would like to protect their business model and we don't want to piss them off".

    We can fully expect the wireless companies to fight tooth-and-nail against any promotion of truly open networks by companies like Google.