It's great to rail against Congress but everyone should understand that, whether we agree with them or not, this IS ultimately their responsibility. Agencies such as the FCC have often taken somewhat vague (often intentionally vague) legislation and taken actions/made rules far beyond what the signers of the law intended. Net Neutrality is just one example of this.
Personally, I'd rather that ELECTED bodies make these decisions, rather than some politically appointed board. Elected officials MUST respond to their voters. Appointed board members only have to keep those who appointed them happy. Most Congressmen/women have no idea that this discussion is even taking place (other than those on the committee, and perhaps some of the leadership). If they had heard of it, they likely had no idea what it meant. 435 + 100 people (mostly lawyers) cannot be expected to understand every single technical aspect of this sort of legislation. That's why WISPA, its members and friends, equipment manufacturers, and probably most importantly YOUR CUSTOMERS must inform them. I'm sure it's forthcoming, but a list of all the Congress members on the relevant committees with their contact info would be most helpful. That and the official WISPA position (in plain language) will allow us to leverage all of our assets to go after this wrong-headed legislation. Once we are armed with this information, every member should contact their Congressman...remember, many of them were just elected in 2010 for the first time. Their heads are still spinning, and they are also more likely to be responsive than some 40 year vet. Regards, Jeff ImageStream Sales Manager 800-813-5123 x106 -----Original Message----- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Forbes Mercy Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 9:04 AM To: memb...@wispa.org; WISPA General List Subject: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire TO WISP's I'm not much of an alarmist and I would never claim the sky is falling unless I had positive proof. Right now WISPA is faced with what I perceive as the most serious threat to our industry to date. Some of you may complain that the FCC is an overreaching intruder into our business. While Federal Government oversight and regulations into our rapidly growing industry may seem intrusive WISPA has always had their ear and we feel they listen and include us into much of their decision making process. There is no doubt they truly want nation-wide service and recognize the lack of enthusiastic expansion by major players (legacy carriers) into the rural area which is our strongest argument. Starting with Net Neutrality we noticed that Congress was starting to politicize the work of the FCC. Some of you thought that was a good thing since you felt the FCC was slow in releasing frequencies. The micro-management of the FCC on that first issue has rapidly grown to full fledged taking over of the FCC's mission. Once the legacy characters found that they could go around the FCC to Congress, where they already give millions in "donations", they knew they had one big leg up on small budget organizations like WISPA. They are now flexing their full lobbying muscle by getting some 'friends' in Congress to introduce bills that would freeze any future expansion of the WISP market locking us out of the lower frequencies that we need to penetrate vegetation and terrain. Much like teaching the Internet to your parents other legislators look at the new laws with dazed amazement and just say OK not realizing the ramifications and listening to the lobbyist spin. WISPA is not sitting back on this one, last year our board was not afraid to go far out of budget to get our feet firmly in the door on issues such as TV White Spaces (TV White Spaces) and the Universal Service Fund change to Connect America Fund (CAF). It appears all that work is now under scrutiny by Congress and their answer seems to be one of 'lets just put all frequencies up for bid, licensed and unlicensed'. None of us WISP's could afford to bid against the likes of AT&T and Verizon and it has the potential of locking all small business out of any future frequencies. Yesterday the Legislative, FCC, and Promotions Committee of WISPA got together and released a letter to all Congressional Members of several committees relevant to this battle, in addition we paid to have a formal press release sent to the media objecting to this path that both the Senate and House seem to be pursuing. We are now interviewing potential Lobbyists (something we've never needed before) and, other firms that can help us with this new front we have to fight on. Where WISPA will have to go to get the ear of Congress to stop this insane path is all new to us but we are up to the challange. We have great legal counsel, members that can attend and testify hearings, allies in other groups such as New America feel the pain like us on this issue. We will be making alliances, learning how to do social networking to reach our members, our members subscribers and, anyone who will side with us to form grass roots efforts to get the attention of Congress. At this point we are not asking for a special assessment or other means to aggressively answer this call, we are within budget so far but it's hard to say how far this will go. We simply are asking you to watch closely what we inform membership, prepare to be involved because unless you are content with the current frequencies and rules we are under you will directly be affected by this Congressional action. If we give in to these irrational rules don't think Congress or the legacy characters will stop there, if they sell the revenue model successfully they could go after existing frequencies too. WISPA will be releasing talking points next week so that you can help us by making appointments with your Congressperson while they are in district during the month of August. We really need to educate them that this path is bad for America and their constituents. If you need constant updates please join the Legislative Committee as we will be posting most of the Legislative work in that venue. Thank you for your time and we appreciate you realizing the huge task we have ahead of us. Forbes Mercy WISPA VP/Legislative Chair ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1390 / Virus Database: 1516/3765 - Release Date: 07/14/11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! 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