By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
US Congress relaunches bipartisan, bicameral Wi-Fi Caucus
This week Senator Pete Ricketts, Senator Jacky Rosen, Congressman Bob Latta, and Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. announced that they will co-chair the relaunch of the bipartisan, bicameral Wi-Fi Caucus. Initially founded in 2018, the Wi-Fi Caucus is dedicated to assisting Members of Congress in better understanding how Wi-Fi benefits the American public, consumers, economy, and the larger geopolitical standing of the United States. The full press release can be found at the WiFi Forward website here.
In general the Wi-Fi Caucus supports Wi-Fi for all the traditional (and important) reasons including more and better connectivity for consumers, businesses, healthcare, education, and more. But Senator Ricketts also points out that “supporting American technologies is the best way to combat Communist China” and that the US must “strengthen domestic access to Wi-Fi to promote innovation and avoid reliance on foreign networks.”
At this point it would be reasonable add that Wi-Fi is not ‘an American technology’ but a global initiative that has enjoyed wide international support for more than 20 years. Contributions to IEEE 802.11 standards forming the basis of Wi-Fi (as well as the work of the Wi-Fi Alliance) come from all over the world. Much of the foundation for what we know as Wi-Fi today was indeed developed in the Netherlands during the 1990s then introduced to the market by Apple and others.
TP-Link still in the US government’s crosshairs
The US government’s drive to outlaw US-based TP-Link Systems from operating a business appears to be intensifying – as evidenced by this coverage in the Washington Post last month. To give credit where credit is due, WAPOs coverage is in this case reasonably balanced.
US government agencies and lawmakers allege that TP-Link Systems is a threat to national security because of ‘links’ to the Chinese government, despite the fact that TP-Link Systems is today a US registered corporation based in Irvine, California.
No agency or lawmaker has – to our knowledge – presented evidence in support of their claims. If this ban were to happen, it means that the US government would ban a US-based corporation out of existence based on evidence that nobody is permitted to see, in other words: The company would be banned without due process, which is guaranteed by the US constitution. A ban of TP-Link would have serious implications for US consumers and ISPs, as millions of individuals and companies looking for – in particular – affordable Wi-Fi systems would be forced to buy equipment at higher prices elsewhere.
Comcast launches five new free Wi-Fi ‘Flagship Lift Zones’
Comcast is doing its part to connect Americans by offering free Wi-Fi at 1,250 so-called ‘Lift Zones’ – and now the company has lit up five new ‘Flagship Lift Zone’s in Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Federal Way (WA), the company says in a press release.
Comcast is committing US$50 million to the continuation of the program, which started in 2020. The goal is to “enable more people to access the internet and the tools they need to succeed – whether that’s applying for a job, attending a virtual class, or launching a business – we’re creating a future where everyone can participate in today’s digital economy,” the company says.
US government lifts ban on Wi-Fi in Virginia ‘Quiet Zone’
Some 13,000 square miles in the surrounds of US National Science Foundation Green Bank Observatory (NSF GBO) – home of the world’s largest steerable radio telescope – has been designated as Wi-Fi free decades but now the US government says Wi-Fi operations within the area are permitted in the 2.4 GHz, according to this New York Post report. This means that schools, business, and households inside the area can now connect to the Internet wirelessly for the first time.
/Claus
