WiMax A long-time reader sends along this petition urging the FCC to open up part of the frequency spectrum to WiMax at their meeting **next week**. In a nutshell, what this means is that the potential to blanket almost the entire nation with wireless hi-speed internet service. You would not be restricted to the wires that come into your home or business. Also, the potential for free basic service, just like broadcast television, has been proposed.

The big telecoms are, of course, opposed. It would cut into their markets if the airwaves could not be monopolized:

Unfortunately, last Friday the broadcasting lobby filed an emergency request to stop the vote from happening. This comes despite more than four years of study, months of extensive lab and field testing by the FCC, and tens of thousands of pages of formal record material -- during which the broadcasters' concerns were fully considered. As we understand it, the draft order carefully and appropriately addresses all legitimate concerns about interference, and the resulting draft rules are, if anything, overly conservative. Nonetheless, the proposed framework overall appears to be sound, and we strongly support it.

While the science should speak for itself, that won't stop the broadcasting lobby from trying to use stalling tactics to derail the technology before the rules of the road are even written. These are the same folks who over the years have sought to block one innovative technology after another, from cable TV to VCRs to satellite TV and radio to low power FM to TiVOs.

I urge you to sign the petition and send it on.  ¶ 4:21 AM