The FCC has never regulated mobile phone rates, let alone data rates, let alone data roaming rates. And of course mobile voice and data rates have been dropping like rocks. A few rural providers are asking the FCC to step in where it hasn’t before. They are asking the FCC to impose old-time common carrier regulation in a modern competitive market.

AEI’s Nick Schulz has a very good video interview of Great Stagnation author Tyler Cowen.

Here’s my Forbes column on The Great Stagnation, the new e-book essay by George Mason economist and Marginal Revolution blogger Tyler Cowen that argues we’re mired in a long technology slump with no obvious way out.

Akamai and other content delivery networks (CDNs) “route around” “the Internet,” which “can’t ever figure . . . out” the fastest path needed for robust packet delivery. And they do so for a price. In other words: paid priority.

So, here we are. Yesterday the FCC voted 3-2 to issue new rules governing the Internet. I expect the order to be struck down by the courts and/or Congress. Meantime, a few observations:

Mr. Genachowski’s proposal is likely the near-term ceiling on regulation. Policy might get better than today’s proposal, but it’s not likely to get any worse. From what I see today, that’s a win for the Internet, and for the U.S. economy.

The FCC’s apparent about-face on Net Neutrality is really perplexing. Over the past few weeks it looked like the Administration had acknowledged economic reality (and bipartisan Capitol Hill criticism) and turned its focus to investment and jobs. Outgoing NEC Director Larry Summers and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced a vast expansion of available wireless spectrum, [...]

In what may be the final round of comments in the Federal Communications Commission’s Net Neutrality inquiry, I offered some closing thoughts, including: Does the U.S. really rank 15th — or even 26th — in the world in broadband? No. The U.S. generates and consumes substantially more IP traffic per Internet user and per capita than [...]

New numbers from Cisco allow us to update our previous comparison of actual Internet usage around the world. We think this is a far more useful metric than the usual “broadband connections per 100 inhabitants” used by the OECD and others to compile the oft-cited world broadband rankings. What the per capita metric really measures [...]

A new FCC order restricts a wireless company’s cooperation with two important mobile service providers and could hinder the FCC’s own goal of extending more wireless coverage to more Americans.