Verizon Promises 4G Wireless For Rural America

Hugh Pickens writes "A Pew study last year found that only 38 percent of rural American homes have access to broadband Internet, compared to 57 percent in cities and 60 percent in the suburbs. All that could be about to change with the announcement that Verizon plans to start introducing a new wireless network in the 700 MHz spectrum in 2010. 'The licenses we bought in the 700MHz auction cover the whole US,' says Tony Melone, a Verizon Wireless VP. 'And we plan to roll out LTE [high-speed mobile service] throughout the entire country, including places where we don't offer our [current] cell phone service today.' Because the [700 MHz] spectrum is in a lower frequency, it can transmit signals over longer distances and penetrate through obstacles, and because the signals travel longer distances, Verizon can deploy fewer cell towers than if it used spectrum from a higher frequency band, which means it can provide coverage at a lower cost. President Obama's administration is well aware of the high-speed Internet divide that exists today, and as part of the overall economic stimulus package passed by Congress, the government is allocating $7.2 billion for projects that bring broadband Internet access to rural towns and communities."

Comments

Re:Because it worked so well last time

[nine-times]

The problem is giving subsidies to private companies without anything that tracks where that money goes. Building Internet infrastructure is a worthwhile investment. Giving Verizon billions of dollars and saying, "I hope you build something good with this," is not such a great idea.

High Speed Internet Availability

[snowraver1]

compared to 57 percent in cities and 60 percent in the suburbs[...]

That's pretty terrible...

Why is everyone ignoring the latency issues?

[NevDull]

It seems as though everyone's excited about "wireless broadband", but the speedtest app on my iPhone says 416ms ping while I'm on 3G.

Latency that's even half that is useless for many applications, and just frustratingly slow for just about all the rest.

Are we just heading for a new definition of the digital divide whereby some people don't have access to *useful* broadband?

-Nev

Re:Welcome

[Aranykai]

I for one would welcome a monopoly over a lack of any service.

Re:But will it be capped?

[Daimanta]

"Everyone one wins, light users pay less, heavy users get the bits they want for a reasonable amount, the company has the resources necessary to expand the network."

That's what happens if companies play nice.

What really happens: Light users pay exactly the same, "heavy users" will pay a lot more.

My proposition: do NOT oversell your capacity. You cannot sell what you do not have and if the network grinds to a halt, it's not the rightful users who are to blame.