It is not looking good...
What a crock "This time it pits the old technology of GPS devices against new wireless providers that offer innovation, competition and investment to neglected rural communities." Maybe the newest satellite is not turned on for a reason.
http://www.caller.com/news/2011/sep/05/dont-stifle-wireless-progress/
You need to educate Representative Menendez -
along with any other Texas state representatives and senators who are buying into LightSquared's smoke and mirrors.
Representative Menendez is simply parrotting LightSquared's talking points.
This whole campaign is being orchestrated by the best spinmeisters money can buy, and they will tell anyone anything if they think it will help their cause. They have thrown out enough red herrings to feed a good-sized crowd.
LightSquared's claim of providing rural coverage is nothing but a ruse.
My reply comments to FCC of 11 August 2011 address the rural-coverage issue including how LightSquared's own official filings with the FCC plainly state that it will be "many years" (LightSquared's own words) before their wireless-broadband network reaches into much of rural America.
Feel free to use my comments letter as is or adapt its contents to your purposes.
GB
You need to educate Representative Menendez -
Thanks! I will.
He is not local to me or I would pay him a visit.
"This time it pits the old technology of GPS devices against new wireless providers that offer innovation, competition and investment to neglected rural communities. If the GPS lobby and its powerful allies in Washington get their way, rural communities may never see the benefits that new wireless competition offers."
The ignorance of this article is amazing. "Old" technology of GPS? "Inexpensive" upgrades to correct the survey grade GPS units?
And what exactly does LightSquared promise to provide today that couldn't be provided by AT&T, Verizon, T-mobile, or Sprint technology?
I have a Clear 4G wireless modem that gives me better speed than my AT&T DSL and it doesn't screw with GPS, expand that network before you wipe out a multi-billion dollar industry.
We all need to educate our representatives -
Great!
The same offer goes for everyone on this message board - go ahead and use that reply-comments letter if you think it will help you work with your elected representatives.
Also available is a similar letter with hyperlinks to source documents if you think that would be better. The version I submitted to the FCC does not have the hyperlinks because they are not allowed in comments to FCC.
Will send either of the original DOCs to anyone who wants to utilize these materials - just contact me via the e-mail link by my name.
If you want to see if any of your local representatives sent similar comments in suppport of LightSquared to the FCC (and many did - especially from Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, California, San Antonio, and Las Vegas, Nevada - I suspect this was coordinated by the Rural Cellular Association) you can go to the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), click on the "Search for Filings" hyperlink, enter "11-109" without quotes in the Proceeding Number field, and then the City and/or State information in the respective fields below. Click the "Search for Comments" button and you will get a listing of the comments that match your entered data.
GB
This is part of a much larger issue
> And what exactly does LightSquared promise to provide today that couldn't be provided by AT&T, Verizon, T-mobile, or Sprint technology?
>
LightSquared's wholesale business model is offering a glimmer of hope to the smaller / regional / rural Tier 2 and Tier 3 cellular companies who are finding themselves in a jam during the current move to 4G/LTE.
The smaller cellular carriers can certainly provide (generally) adequate service within their own service areas, but unless they can provide nationwide data roaming they will be at a severe competitive disadvantage against the Big Two.
The "little guys" are desperate to find a way to stay in business. If they get too tied to either AT&T or Verizon via roaming agreements, etc. they risk getting gobbled up about the time they start to show a profit. Since LightSquared says they do not intend to offer retail services, the rural cellular companies are much more comfortable hooking up with LightSquared (or a similar wholesale only provider) for data roaming.
Then there is the issue of spectrum. When big chunks of the 700-MHz band (with its much better propagation characteristics) were auctioned in 2008, the Big Two got most of it and the regional cellular companies have to beg and bargain to use any of it.
This also gets quickly tangled up with the Universal Service Fund and all the spin and intrigue a few billion dollars seems to fuel.
GB
I agree.
I see LightSquared as the next Enron. One group making so many unbelievable promises to another group that wants more than it needs.
When I first read the hype of their plan and the results when turned on, especially how it shuts down present GPS systems, I burned an instant email thru Homeland Security to Kay Bailey Hutchinson and my other state and national representatives.
The gaul of this group amazes me. I can not understand why the leaders of our nation can allow anyone that holds a piece of technology that will shut down viable and important communication systems at will should not ever be present and useable by our country, period.
What the FCC does never surprises me. Their past record has been implementing changes that force the American public to replace most every electronic gadget that transmits or receives a signal passing thru the USA's airspace all to frequently and long before the gadgets have lost their usefulness.
A few years ago, the area I lived in was void of cell phone coverage. Verizon changed all that and even though there is no 4g network, I don't really need that. Being able to send and receive text and pic and being able to receive a call most anywhere suits me fine.
There are and will remain the dead spots that exist because of some very powerful forces to secure some government and public works facilities across the area. They will always exist.
I predict the spread of signal cancelling for the reason to keep silent the spread of breaking news and the truth around schools and public arenas.
"They are out there and they are listening in"
This is part of a much larger issue
If the services promised were economically viable to AT&T or Verizon who already have the towers in place don't you think they would provide these services?
LightSquared is promising broadband to the boondocks(incidentally I live in small town USA)but I seriously doubt it ever happens.
And again, it will cause devastation to high precision GPS at the same time it is also becoming an important part of agriculture production. I would like to see an economic analysis of the harm this company will do versus the benefit of giving farmhouses high speed internet.
>That is what happens when lobbyists do a great job. Our elected folksa need to hear from actual constituents on this...
Speaking of which...
From ACSM:
The House of Representatives Science Committee will have a hearing on September 8, 2011 on the Impacts of the LightSquared Network. The hearing was originally scheduled for August 3, and the witnesses are representatives from Federal agencies and one person from the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. But they need YOUR imput. This is your chance to tell Congress how the LightSquared issue will affect you and your business. LightSquared is pulling out all the stops to try to ram their plans down the throats of GPS users --- many of whom are the surveying community. This is an opportunity to fight back.
If you feel strongly about LightSquared's plan to render GPS useless, then sit down NOW and send an e-mail to Congressman Ralph Hall, Chairman of the House Science Committee. His staffperson contact is @mail.house.gov">Leslee Gilbert and his phone number is (202) 225-9816. And, while you're at it, copy your own Representative as well.
If you don't know his or her contact, you can find it here:
www.house.gov.
MAKE SURE YOU REFERENCE THE SEPTEMBER 8 LIGHTSQUARED HEARING IN YOUR SUBJECT LINE. LightSquared is doing everything it can to push its plan forward; surveyors need to do everything we can to stop them.
Thanks for your continued help and support!
Two great resources -
If you would like to study up on the LightSquared issue, here are a couple of resources that have appeared recently -
Dr. Brad Parkinson (often credited with being the - or one of the - father(s) of GPS) prepared an excellent presentation on GPS accuracy and integrity.
Also, Deere & Company (John Deere) visited the FCC on 18 August 2011 with their PowerPoint presentation that details why LightSquared's Plan B will not work.
GB