OPINION: FCC should open up faster, better Wi-Fi
Last year, the Department of Transportation (DOT) sensibly delayed a held-over Obama regulation that would have mandated an expensive, obsolete technology called dedicated short-range communication in all new cars and trucks sold in America.
The Obama rule, according to its own cost estimate, would have imposed total costs of $108 billion and raised the price of every new car by about $300 — for a technology that has already been made obsolete by rapidly advancing developments including a shift toward commercial cellular and sensor-based approaches to vehicle safety.
Worse, DOT use of this spectrum, the 5.9 GHz band, prevents it from being reallocated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).The band is adjacent to existing Wi-Fi spectrum, and opening it up would allow high-speed gigabit Wi-Fi on a large scale.