Author Topic: "Free Wireless for Every -- "  (Read 2524 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Online Pandora

  • Administrator
  • Conservative Superhero
  • *****
  • Posts: 19529
  • I iz also makin a list. U on it pal.
"Free Wireless for Every -- "
« on: February 21, 2011, 04:25:59 PM »
--Whattaya mean, "it's not that free?" Whattaya mean, "They have to take that space in the RF spectrum from somebody else?"

Quote
As the above-linked Atlantic Wire piece notes, the White House push to hand you broadband free for nothing on the streetcorners, exactly as they now dole out air,* has a teensy li'l problem: they need 500 MHz of bandwidth to do it and the radiofrequency spectrum is a zero-sum game. How big a chunk is this? If they started from DC, 500 MHz would run up past the whole AM band, all the shortwave bands, all of FM and aircraft radio, take TV channels 2 through 13 and keep on for another 230-odd MHz, wiping out the Family Radio Service Band (462 - 468MHz, roughly) before the grab stops. All of it, gone.

Of course, that's not how they'll do it; most of those frequencies are lousy for hooking your laptop up to Teh Innerwebz, so you can keep 'em. But UHF television, now, that's another story! Heck, there's nothing up there but that horrible over-the-air TV and you can get that stuff on cable. Or satellite. Or from The Phone Company--

That's right. To get you that "free" wireless (you'll still probably have to pay somebody), Uncle Sugar will be taking away some of the free TV you already have. Oh, not entirely; they want to take those sparkly-shiny super clear High-Definition TV pictures (the one you bought a new TV to see) and smash them back down to what's called "standard-definition," like old-time TV with a hint of YouTube, then spit out several channels in a slice of RF the same size as one full HD channel: the same lousy TV you had before the analog shut-down, only now on a great big screen so every flaw is that much bigger! Hooray!

Go read the rest.  "Free" for dummies.

ETA:  Oh yeah, H/T The Smallest Minority

"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

"Let us assume for the moment everything you say about me is true. That just makes your problem bigger, doesn't it?"

Offline Libertas

  • Conservative Superhero
  • *****
  • Posts: 63663
  • Alea iacta est! Libertatem aut mori!
Re: "Free Wireless for Every -- "
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2011, 08:20:44 PM »
They don't have a lapdog House to let that kinda crap pass muster anymore, and re-allocating that much space from that many people to set aside for damn lazy looters just isn't going to fly.  There are more of us than them, the cost on replacing equipment is prohibitive in the extreme and would force people to throw away old units or say screw you to the government and overlap frequencies and create mass chaos across the spectrum.  I have to believe this idea is DOA.
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

charlesoakwood

  • Guest
Re: "Free Wireless for Every -- "
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2011, 11:05:37 PM »


no, no, none of that will be a problem. All of those little radio and tv things will be available on your laptop.  As for those big wasteful flatscreens they will send you plans via email (yes, they have your address) to make them into coffee tables.  See how efficient everything will be?

Online Pandora

  • Administrator
  • Conservative Superhero
  • *****
  • Posts: 19529
  • I iz also makin a list. U on it pal.
Re: "Free Wireless for Every -- "
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2011, 11:19:13 PM »
Coffee tables!  Bwaha!  Will this be after they outlaw cof -- what is coffee's status these days:  savior or killer?
"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

"Let us assume for the moment everything you say about me is true. That just makes your problem bigger, doesn't it?"

Online IronDioPriest

  • Administrator
  • Conservative Superhero
  • *****
  • Posts: 10828
  • I refuse to accept my civil servants as my rulers
Re: "Free Wireless for Every -- "
« Reply #4 on: February 21, 2011, 11:38:54 PM »
Coffee tables!  Bwaha!  Will this be after they outlaw cof -- what is coffee's status these days:  savior or killer?

Oh, full of helpful cancer-fighting, cell-cleansing anti-oxidants... unless you're a teenager, then it's nanny's job to rid you of its corrupting influence...
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."

- Thomas Jefferson

Online Pandora

  • Administrator
  • Conservative Superhero
  • *****
  • Posts: 19529
  • I iz also makin a list. U on it pal.
Re: "Free Wireless for Every -- "
« Reply #5 on: February 21, 2011, 11:42:52 PM »
Coffee tables!  Bwaha!  Will this be after they outlaw cof -- what is coffee's status these days:  savior or killer?

Oh, full of helpful cancer-fighting, cell-cleansing anti-oxidants... unless you're a teenager, then it's nanny's job to rid you of its corrupting influence...

Good grief!  So, they've taken the double standard route, eh?  Thank goodness somebody knew; I do so hate to be out of touch.
"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

"Let us assume for the moment everything you say about me is true. That just makes your problem bigger, doesn't it?"

Offline BigAlSouth

  • Established Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1581
  • Who won't 'co-exist?'
Re: "Free Wireless for Every -- "
« Reply #6 on: February 22, 2011, 05:43:45 AM »
Coffee and alcohol. Like guns and roses.
The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living
are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.
--------------
The enemy of my enemy is my friend; the friend of my enemy is, well, he is just a dumbass.