Google Takes WiFi Lobbying Up A Notch

Washington (DC) - Google this week began a new push in Washington, lobbying for more airwaves and bandwidth access for wireless Internet. It's part of the online giant's push to create a new standard of wireless Web access.

Google says it wants to create a platform called WiFi 2.0, a wireless high-speed Internet network that would be loosely regulated and be more cost-effective than the current offerings.

However, Google also hoped the auction would bring in more broadband competition, but with Verizon and AT&T as the big winners in the spectrum bidding, that didn't really happen. So Google is now trying to get through Congress directly.

At issue is a bundle of unused spectrum currently grouped in with the country's TV signals. This so-called "white space" spectrum could be used to create a high-speed online network, contends Google.

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Mark Raby
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Mark Raby is a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware, covering a wide range of topics, from video game reviews to detailed analyses of computer processors.