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About That FCC 700MHz Auction

Posted by on Jul 23, 2007 | 2 Comments

Gnomie Mike (aka Mavro) writes:

Hi Chris,

I hope this email finds you well. I just wanted to thank you for posting about the topic of the upcoming FCC auction. This is a huge event and I’m glad you weighed in on the topic to bring on some more awareness. I hope Americans a well as us “geeks” realize the importance of this auction.

Unfortunately I fear AT&T’s close relationship and cooperation with the U.S. government (i.e. NSA “secret rooms” in AT&T facilities) might give it favor in the auction over Google. I really hope the FCC does the right thing here but I doubt it will. If AT&T wins the auction we can expect more monopolistic exclusive deals with cell phone manufacturers, less privacy, higher prices, and less service putting us even further behind Asia and Europe who laugh at our current wireless capabilities.

Cell Phones you can ONLY use on AT&T:

  • Apple iPhone
  • Samsung BlackJack
  • BlackBerry Curve
  • BlackBerry 8820 (upcoming)

So basically if you want the coolest phones on the market, you have to be with AT&T. This reminds me of the ’50s and ’60s when you had to rent an AT&T phone to have a landline.

Your show/blog is great and I follow it on my Google Reader daily. Keep up the great work!

[tags]fcc, 700MHz auction[/tags]

  • marc klink

    Not sure about the FCC/NSA/AT&T connection.

    The question of ‘coolest’ cell phones changes rapidly. It wasn’t so long ago that if someone wanted the coolest phones, they were forced to suffer with the lousy Sprint service, as they had the ‘coolest’. Then a time came when TMobile had the ‘coolest’ phones [among them at the time the semi-ubiquitous Sidekick] their customer service is great, but at the time the coverage wasn’t nearly adequate.

    It has always come down to whether you view your cell phone as a status symbol, or a tool. As a subscriber to the latter thought, I have Verizon service and a phone with less buzz factor, but solid service, and nice features [Samsung SCH-U-740]

  • marc klink

    It also occurs to me that we shouldn’t be debating the sale of the airwaves and to whom they will go. This is another way the Bush administration is selling the nation to the business concerns. If the name was not already taken, this administration would try to rename us AmeriCorp.