Audio from
Commonwealth Club Presentation about Re-Inventing Wires
The U.S. Should Instead
Invest in Hard-Wired Telecommunications Infrastructure to Support
Economic Growth, Bridge the Digital Divide and Diminish Risks to
Security, Privacy, Public Health and the Environment
WASHINGTON, D.C. January 26, 2018. A public policy report on the Internet and the future of landlines and wireless networks, “Re-Inventing Wires: The Future of Landlines and Networks”,
was published online today by the National Institute for Science, Law
& Public Policy (NISLAPP) in Washington, D.C. Because broadband
networks and the Internet have become vital components of our nation’s
physical, cultural and social structure, the future of these networks,
the report says, must be steered towards the fastest, most reliable and
future-proof, and secure infrastructure available. Such infrastructure
would be wired, not wireless.
“Re-Inventing Wires: The Future of Landlines and Networks”
is authored by communications technology expert Dr. Timothy Schoechle,
PhD, an international consultant in computer engineering and
standardization, former faculty member of the University of Colorado,
College of Engineering and Applied Science and Senior Research Fellow at
the National Institute for Science, Law & Public Policy.
Dr. Schoechle says, “We are seeing the present national emphasis on wireless technologies because the “triopoly”, of Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast that dominates our access to the Internet imposes artificial scarcity, planned obsolescence, and high prices to maintain their immense profits. It is
in their interest to obscure the fact that advanced copper and optical
fiber are far superior to wireless in both cost and performance.”
From a broad analysis of available data, “Re-Inventing Wires: The Future of Landlines and Networks”
demonstrates wireless systems cannot provide long-term solutions for
universal, reliable and affordable Internet accessibility, nor support
the ever-increasing data rates that will be needed in the near future
for each American home and business. Investment in wired, not wireless,
information infrastructure is needed across the U.S. right now.
Schoechle says, “Government officials have been misled about
the adequacy of wireless communications. Legislators should stop
enabling the wireless industry’s plans for massive new deployments of 4G
LTE and soon 5G millimeter wave antennas throughout American
neighborhoods, and instead commit to supporting reliable,
energy-efficient and enduring hard-wired telecommunications
infrastructure that meets the nation’s immediate and long-term needs.
“Re-Inventing Wires: The Future of Landlines and Networks” explains why on technological and other grounds an intensely wireless approach to communications is the wrong direction.
The wireless industry is forging full throttle ahead to install millions
of new antennas, and dozens of Bills in Congress, and in State
legislatures, seek to pre-empt local laws and regulations. A national
fiber broadband system deployed as close to the consumer as possible,
the report says, is a more intelligent choice, in many respects. A
national network of locally controlled fiber networks would far better
serve to sustain economic growth and competitiveness, meet projected
market demand, overcome access inequality and second-rate connectivity
issues, and diminish a range of well-known risks from wireless
communication, including safety, security, privacy, public health and
environmental risks, while at the same time reducing the extraordinary,
and little considered, energy requirements of wireless and cellular
networks.
Schoechle says, “An advanced information highway is what is needed, not an inefficient and expensive ‘toll road’.”
He adds, “The Internet has become
one of the defining technologies of our society. It is our central
medium for commerce and communication—but more importantly—for our
public discourse, engagement, and democratic governance. Largely due to
failures and consequences of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the
internet is not living up to its potential. It has been hijacked by the
commercial motivations that have come to re-define and constrain the
availability, quality, content, and media of high-speed access in the
United States…While other countries are investing to assure citizens’
access to a fast and reliable information highway, U.S. legislators
appear asleep at the switch, captured by the wireless industry and its
lobbyists.”
The central conclusions of “Re-Inventing Wires: The Future of Landlines and Networks” are:
“Reinventing Wires: The Future of Landlines and Networks”
seeks to give policymakers pause about the accelerating wireless
frenzy, while illuminating the consequences of the nation’s neglect of
wired infrastructure. It examines current impediments to competition,
and the importance of net neutrality, which is necessary to ensure fair,
equal and affordable information access for all citizens. Most
importantly, it explains the renaissance that has occurred in wired
technologies in recent years and how these advances offer dynamic
potential for America’s sustainable connectivity of the future.
Download “Re-Inventing Wires: The Future of Landlines and Networks”
Download—Press Release – Long Form
Audio from Commonwealth Club Presentation about Re-Inventing Wires