User:Elliso56/Sandbox

Notice of Inquiry
In 2009, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 made the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) deliver a National Broadband Plan by February 17,2010. The FCC started started this process by issuing a Notice of Inquiry (NOI). The NOI identifies broadband issues as critical questions and asked stakeholders to respond to these issues and questions with data and analysis.

FCC's Proposals
The FCC started with a list of proposals to meet a congressional mandate to give energy home in the United States access to high-speed Internet service. The recommendations included revising a rural phone subsidy program, revamping the market for television set-top boxes and redirecting more airwaves to wireless services. . Different groups had an argument that stated that the proposals don't do enough to encourage more competition in an industry dominated by AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast.

A proposal that stood out to the agency's broadband task force called for using money from the Universal Service Fund to pay for adding high-speed Internet in remote and low-income regions of the country. This program raises around $7 billion annually which comes from the fees on long-distance phone service. The idea of redirecting these funds has upset rural phone carriers who have come to rely on the subsidies. Broadcasters became upset because the FCC recommended allocating air waves from television broadcasters to wireless broadband to support the next generation of iPhones and BlackBerrys which meant that the broadcasters couldn't use the airwaves for mobile television services.

The FCC wanted to revamp the television set-top box market. This market is only dominated by a few players who work directly with cable and satellite providers to lease the boxes to customers. Since many homes have a television. the FCC feels that set-top boxes may eventually be a gateway for internet services.

broadband.gov
The Fcc runs a website by the name of broadband.gov. This website reports on all of the broadband access around the country. It is also the website where people are able to view the National Broadband Plan. The plan outlines the different areas broadband affects and room for improvement by both internet providers and users. . This website gives much information about the broadband internet as far as its uses and what it actually is. One of the more important things on the website are the list of workshops in which the FCC holds. The Workshops are held at the FCC and then they are put on to the site so that people can access them if they need to. They also like to incorporate the public everywhere, so, they have different field events throughout the country so that they are able to accomplish this.