When students arrive to school, they enjoy the availability of WiFi throughout the school day sponsored by FCPS, but under a new government proposal this access to WiFi may still be present even after the school day ends.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a plan to create a free, but powerful, WiFi network across the U.S. that could be used to make phone calls or Internet searches without paying a cell phone or data bill every month. The proposal would cost $178 billion and would benefit individuals all over the nation, especially the poor.
With 60 percent of AHS students at or below poverty level, the availability of free WiFi is a necessity in this day and age. The reliance on technology in and out of school is increasing rapidly and the need for every student to own a smartphone or laptop is crucial.
This growing gap between students with and without technology at their fingertips is often referred to as the “digital divide.” When teachers give homework to their students that requires the Internet, a constant issue is whether or not this access to the web is available to each student.
One of the biggest reasons that many students do not already own smart phones is due to the expensive and incessant data plan charges. Although many students can afford the initial phone, the $15 to $50 contracts that come with the phones are almost out of reach for most.
If this WiFi proposal were to pass, students that do not have the access to an Internet connection outside of school would now have the opportunity to surf the web, whether it be school related or not, in their own homes.
“Freeing up unlicensed spectrum is a vibrantly free-market approach that offers low barriers to entry to innovators developing the technologies of the future and benefits consumers,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in an interview with The Washington Post.
The current issue with this proposal is the expected outrage from cell phone companies such as AT&T and Verizon due to their concerns that they will no longer make profits off of data plans. But, they need to understand that they cannot control what happens with this proposal. The radio and television waves belong to all of us, and if the government wants to better the lives of its citizens by creating convenient internet access, then so be it.
This idea of free WiFi is not a new thought. In fact, some companies and cities are already moving in this direction, as Google already provides free WiFi to the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan and parts of Silicon Valley. Unless all cell phone companies have gone bankrupt in these areas, the effects of free WiFi over large areas does not seem to be causing any economic degradation in these areas.
Despite all the legal aspects of this new proposal, as a teenager, I cannot fail to recognize that this is one of the first proposals that will actually benefit the next generation of leaders, giving unlimited Internet access wherever we go at all times of the day. This would drastically change the course of the future because almost all Americans would feel obliged to buy smart phones, knowing that the high data plan charges would be greatly reduced if this WiFi proposal is implemented.
The nation needs this proposal to pass in order to keep up with the incessant technological innovations and to keep Americans online. If passed, students will no longer have to worry about being able to log on outside of school and the nauseous feeling that Americans get when they open their cell phone bills could possibly disappear forever.
