Cleveland Rocks & Other Wireless News

Last week, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously cleared a bill requiring the FCC and the Commerce Department to conduct annual audits of our wireless airwaves. The goal is to create a better, more efficient use of the nation's radio spectrum.

If you want to know why Congress desperately needs to pass this legislation, take a look at Cleveland, Ohio. Yes, Cleveland.

Last Thursday, the city's water authority announced plans to install 435,000 wireless meters to monitor water usage. The department acted after seeing the benefits from similar programs in Cincinnati (235,000 wireless readers) and Akron (87,000).

Cleveland's decision points up one of the biggest trends in wireless service -- a development with huge implications for the rest of us. The mobile Internet is exploding. About 74 million Americans will use the mobile Internet this year through either traditional browsers or installed applications and that number will nearly double to 134 million by 2013.

This year's cavalcade of cool new smartphones is a key driver of this growth. A single high-end smartphone generates more data traffic than 30 traditional cellphones. And a laptop aircard generates more traffic than 450 such cellphones, according to a Cisco study.

But what's truly remarkable about this Mobile Revolution is how quickly it's moving beyond consumers. Think Terminator II meets your home appliances. In the coming years, everything from your refrigerator to your air conditioner to your wristwatch will be sending out wireless signals.

Actually, it's already happening. In several cities, wireless transmitters inside parking meters beam notices that space is available or that the meter time has expired. Wireless systems are now being used for law enforcement (gunfire detection), home security, traffic monitoring (immediate accident reports), and care for persons with such disabilities as Alzheimer's and autism.

And since Congress is working feverishly to reign in health care costs, consider this: The monthly fee for a home monitoring system is about $100, compared with nursing home care which can run $200 per day.

The Senate bill is part of the Obama Administration's commitment to expand broadband choice. The idea is that independent agencies would annually review usage and capacity of the spectrum and then recommend how to make more efficient use of these valuable channels.

A similar House bill was introduced but has not yet seen committee action.

Any federal strategy to promote affordable broadband has to include aggressive support for wireless. This effort to improve America's wireless efficiencies is a key first step.

Jonathan Spalter, chairman of Mobile Future, served as chief information officer at the United States Information Agency during the Clinton administration.

Comments

[ohdem]

Almost half a million wireless water meters sounds like a costly project. Perhaps this is how Ohio is spending some of the stimulus money. It will certainly create jobs for installers and technicians and ease the billing process. I can see wireless electric meters on the horizon. No more barking or biting dogs for the meter reader to contend with.
My only concern is with hackers. If someone finds a way to mess with the system, it could be a nightmare to deal with the water or electric company to dispute charges. I hope they also have a security plan in place to prevent that. I suppose there could also be an analog or digital read-out to allow the homeowner to monitor his meter.

[Sinick]

All this stuff is great but it is known that our Internet infrastructure is already behind the times. Why? Corporations eschew investment in infrastructure in favor of purchasing bandwidth from others. This increases their bottom line so that their shareholders can reap a higher profit in the short term. As a result, there is already talk about routing worldwide Internet traffic around the US because of our outdated infrastructure.

In a nutshell, this short term thinking is what is wrong with America.