It will never happen, I'm afraid. The news reports were misleading. All the FCC was calling for was open spectrum to allow business or other entities to buy spectrum to build out super WiFi networks. Anyway, some states have already passed laws that make it basically impossible to have public WiFi networks in order to protect the carriers. Or as they prefer to call it, stop socialism. Speaking of the carriers, they have predictably come out in opposition to any plan for free public WiFi or even allowing the FCC to allocate white space broadband to limit monopolistic practices. After all, in the US we "enjoy" internet speeds that are among the slowest in the industrial world, while at the same time paying more than almost anyone else. The have every incentive to maintain the status quo.
Answer
It will never happen, I'm afraid. The news reports were misleading. All the FCC was calling for was open spectrum to allow business or other entities to buy spectrum to build out super WiFi networks. Anyway, some states have already passed laws that make it basically impossible to have public WiFi networks in order to protect the carriers. Or as they prefer to call it, stop socialism. Speaking of the carriers, they have predictably come out in opposition to any plan for free public WiFi or even allowing the FCC to allocate white space broadband to limit monopolistic practices. After all, in the US we "enjoy" internet speeds that are among the slowest in the industrial world, while at the same time paying more than almost anyone else. The have every incentive to maintain the status quo.