N.I.I. in Washington State: The Dark Side

Published July 17 1995

This report is the result of two weeks of interviews in Washington State in late May and early June. It shows a very dark picture of our coming technology "dystopia."

The COOK Report finds that the state of Washington leads the rest of the nation in developing the building blocks of a statewide information infrastructure. NII is touted in commercials by AT&T and others as being kind of warm and friendly communications utopia. But the essence of NII is often in the eye of the beholder. In fact, there is no widely accepted definition of or goals for NII.

In the state of Washington what is being constructed is not a service for video on demand; nor is it home shopping. It is a statewide web of state agency networks and inter linked databases. While other states have some NII related projects, we are not aware of any that have the number and scope of those in Washington.

People with whom we talked generally agreed that the citizens of Washington are facing a situation where their privacy is fast disappearing and where the rights to information that they own and should effectively control are being sold out from under them. In the opinion of many to whom we talked, the situation is volatile and may become more so.

Information Infrastructure in Colorado: Top Down or Bottom Up?

Published Jan 18 1995.

From the Governor's office, to Boulder, to US West, to Dave Hughes, to the San Luis Valley, we interview two dozen people on Colorado's information future.

Wireless As An Internet On-Ramp & Local Loop By Pass

We find that, by the summer of 1995, wireless bridges into Internet service providers and wireless providers themselves can be expected to be accessible in the largest urban areas. These services, based on unlicensed spread spectrum technology, are also feasible and economic for use in rural areas. Of course they won't be "rolled out" there unless a group of users puts together the necessary funds to pay for them. Still the bottom line is that reasonably priced wireless internet solutions are available.

Introduction - We survey wireless technologies from a data rather than voice perspective. Since most reasonably priced wireless solutions depend on spread spectrum, we immediately look at the question of whether a spectrum shortage exists and whether it will inhibit the development of this technology. We compare and contrast Gilder's views on Steinbrecher Digital radios, TDMA and CDMA, and the politics of spectrum allocation with those of Andy Seybold in his book Using Wireless Communications in Business. Gilder sees spread spectrum as an absolutely revolutionary technology that is eliminating spectrum shortage. Seybold sees it as an important technology but one unlikely to grow far beyond its current applications because there is a severe spectrum shortage and the needs of the big players will keep spread spectrum tied up within the bounds they establish. We conclude that the truth lies somewhere in between the two positions - why? Because although technology advances are making amazing improvements in spectrum use possible, the economic drivers behind business and regulation act with some consistency to inhibit progress.

We conclude that while spread spectrum systems certainly do not offer a risk-free path to any communications utopia, they are viable in the current 902 to 928 MHz bandwidth and can be used effectively in the 2 and 5 GHz ranges where they are also authorized.

As part of our research on the viability of spread spectrum we looked at the 1981 to 1985 FCC rule making process to understand why the FCC allowed spread spectrum in the first place. We were assured by a knowledgeable Washington observer that the FCC never intended to open the gates much beyond the point reached by the final 1985 rule making. Nevertheless, the May 1984 FCC notice shows that after 3 years of technical comment and study the Commission was prepared to allow unlimited use of the technology in bandwidth above 70 Mega-hertz, and unlimited power in the ISM bands so long as such use did not interfere with other licensed use in those bands. We were told that what was finally approved a year later (one watt in the ISM bands only) was an evisceration of the technology by key large corporations and the security agencies which complained that they'd never be able to monitor the bad guys under the conditions of the 1984 proposed rule making.

Part One of our study looks at mixed uses of voice and data. It focuses mainly on CDPD which appears not well-positioned for the long haul. It examines digital cellular and PCS to see where these technologies fit in in view of the explosion of money at the first set of frequency auctions - which it sees as not in the public interest and likely to kill the viability of PCS.

Part Two looks at Wireless Two Way Data Services and add ons. We explain RAM Mobile Data and ARDIS and the features differentiating their services. We look at RadioMail and how both RAM and ARDIS have used it. Finally we look at emerging new services - WYND as a RadioMail competitor and Nationwide Wireless and Nextel.

Part Three examines Metricom's Micro-Cellular Data Network Service in considerable depth. Metricom is a data network service that with over $100 million in the bank is poised to roll out a low cost intelligent mesh network service using $700 radios that can be hung from light poles and the sides of buildings. As the network grows in number of users and traffic, the infrastructure is expended by throwing more $700 radios in place. The low cost is made possible by use of spread spectrum technology and by not building in the capability for rapid user hand offs between cells. You can walk from cell to cell while online, but not drive.

Metricom's first commercial network, in operation in the Silicon Valley area since June 28 1994, is delivering 38.4 kilobaud speed flat rate and unmeasured service for $29.95 a month. This is twice RAM's best speed and an unmetered rate far less than anyone else in the industry where metered rates predominate.

We publish a telephone interview we conducted with Metricom President Bob Dilworth. In that interview we clarified Metricom's offering of Internet PPP access for $15 additional dollars a month. Metricom does not give users a mailbox on the net. What it does is deliver them to a gateway to BARRnet. Users have to pay regular rates for BARRnet services in addition to the Metricom charges.

Part 4 Tetherless Access: We interview TAL President Dewayne Hendricks. TAL is more directly oriented to the provision of Internet service than Metricom. TAL has a spread spectrum wireless modem/router at $3500. These devices can easily communicate over line-of-sight distances of as much as 20 miles. We also interview Richard Lowenburg the Director of the Infozone project in Telluride Colorado where TAL will turn on a network between now and Labor Day.

Conclusion: the degree of success in Metrocom's roll out over the next year will be critical in determining the extent to which, by next summer, wireless can serve as effective low cost Internet access and telco by-pass. We note that markets in rural areas could be effectively served by a combination of a Metricom radio cluster in a small town and Tetherless daisy chain of radios from a telco pop to that town - If Metricom decides to provide a low cost gateway to its base station. (Metricom radios do not daisy chain well.)

Cable TV or the Telcos?

Published 1993

Who will build and control the National Information Infrastructure? In this Special Report, the impact on the Internet of likely CATV dominance is analyzed.

With the recent splash of news about CATV moving to 500 channels and National Information Infrastructure being written about in the context of the delivery of entertainment to the home, some observers of the Internet scene have been heard wondering whether the Internet will be reduced to a rivulet in the face of a flood of mindless "infotainment."

The COOK Report set out to find some answers to this question. What it found may be the keys to the Clinton Administration's policy on NII. CATV, by default, may now be in the process of becoming the provider of the NII's off ramps and on ramps. ARPA is funding technology development described below that may create a whole new class of Internet connectivity providers. The CATV industry has just reached the crescendo of a campaign to alert operators to the Internet as a service and a money maker. Telcos are scrambling for video dial tone and cable alliances. But many, realizing that they are out run and out flanked, are taking the only course left -- buying the CATV companies.

The Clinton Administration's policy appears to be largely one of both ignoring concerns that there could be any kind of downside to the new broadband technology and then standing back to encourage the "free market" to work its wonders. On the assumption that regulatory reform may not be possible, the Administration appears ready to encourage technologies that are likely to lead to a major upheaval in the telecommunications structure of the nation. Such events could render the current and admittedly antiquated regulatory structure superfluous.

NSFNET Privatization and the Public Interest

Published January 1993

This full-length special report gives a detailed history of NSFnet policymaking from 1989 to the end of 1992. The full text of this report is published here.

Russian Telecommunications: Crisis Creation of Infrastructure in 1992

Published 1992

Eleven days were spent in Russia interviewing Russian telecommunication figures. The author's exploration of the emerging Russian internet four months after the collapse of the USSR. Features in-depth exchanges with Andrei Sebrant, and reviews of Relcom, Glasnet, Belcom, etc.

Russian Telecommunications: New Perspectives on Infrastructure Creation

Published 1992

A followup visit in October served to fill in the continuing development of Russia's telecommunications infrastructure.

Short Report: Electronic Student Record Databases invade our Public Schools

Published 1995

The first chapter of the Washington report, this short report describes the insatiable hunger of the education reformers for privacy-invasive databases in our public schools.

"The National Research And Education Network: Whom Shall It Serve?"

The Editor's 1992 OTA Draft

This is an early 1992 snapshot of what the information super highway looked like at the end of our 18 months tour of duty at the now defunct US Congress Office of Technology Assessment.

The International Connections Manager - an Interview with Steve Goldstein

Published in the January 1995 COOK Report

This is the most comprehensive summary available of Steve Goldstein's work in bringing the Internet to foreign countries.