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Wireless, Unchecked

It was approximately two weeks ago when Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, spearheaded a House hearing that involved “cordless innovation and consumer protection”. In the said event, he held up an iPhone as Exhibit A in his assessment that the industry exerted “far too much control over the features, functions and applications that wireless gadget makers and content entrepreneurs can offer directly to consumers.”

On the heels of this statement, he pointed out the two year contract that AT&T imposes, one that comes with a $175 early-termination fee. This is applicable even if the price of the telephone was not, in any way, subsidized. Added to this fact, the phone is more than likely unable to work with another network provider as well because of the exclusive contracts that telephone manufacturers strike with wireless carriers.

This has been a constant bane for customers of the consumer electronics market. However, such conditions seem set for a few improvements. With the growing attention given to such issues and concerns, it seems someone is finally going to start doing something about it.

One of these entails the introduction of a couple more choices for wireless consumers. In an imminent auction to be held for wireless spectrum, one that is set to be available in the year 2009, the Federal Communications Commission is already making plans to assign a third of the new capacity for bidders in particular who will consent to open their wireless services to other networks.

Kevin J. Martin, who is the F.C.C. chairman, has already stated in an interview last week that he had already drafted a proposal and had spread it among his fellow commissioners. The draft stipulated that the winning bidders had to demonstrate a degree of receptivity to all manner of devices as well as applications that are supplied by independent manufacturers of consumer electronics and third-party software providers.

In this light, subscribers of the new services would finally be granted the convenience to take their mobile cordless phones from one carrier to another without any mishap or technical difficulties hounding them. This, of course, is the ideal mobile cordless phone to own for any on-the-go consumer, one that is truly and genuinely free in its services.

Given such issues and concerns, the pressure to supply consumers with a great deal more choices when it comes to mobile cordless telephones and software, has been mounting for quite some time already. This was made apparent in January when the F.C.C. took another measure to loosen the tight and exclusive grip that the cable operators had over the set-top box that feeds the cable signal to the T. This move also made it quite clear that the commission is open to modifications that are able to afford consumers with an extensive range of equipment choices.

It was in February, as well, when Timothy Wu, a law professor at Columbia University, would publish an influential paper, “Wireless Net Neutrality,” that served to advocate the position that wireless carriers should open their networks to equipment as well as software applications that the carriers did not control. Mr. Wu put forward his proposal a call for “Cellular Carterfone.” This, by and large, referred to the 1968 Carterfone ruling that was made by the F.C.C.