FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is proposing to implement plans that will make profound effect on the way Internet users are limited as well as opening up the broadband connections in schools and libraries, according to an ESchoolNews report.

“An open Internet allows consumers to access the legal content and applications that they choose online, without interference from their broadband network provider,” the fact sheet states, according to the ESchoolNews article. “It fosters innovation and competition by ensuring that new products and services developed by entrepreneurs aren’t blocked or throttled by Internet service providers putting their own profits above the public interest. An open Internet allows free expression to blossom without fear of an Internet provider acting as a gatekeeper,”

The plan will completely annex any control that broadband providers have on who accesses the Internet or why they choose to. It also makes having connectivity in schools and libraries a lot more cost effective according to the article. 

“Chairman Wheeler’s proposals to protect the open internet include one key provision that will be very helpful to any school district or library that is working to bring fiber to their buildings,” says Evan Marwell, CEO of San Francisco-based EducationSuperHighway in the article.

“That is, by ‘ensuring fair access to poles and conduits under section 224,’ the proposed rules will make it much simpler and more cost effective for school districts to obtain the rights of way they will need for fiber construction.”

Wheeler’s plan will also give users the right to go where they want whenever they want when it comes to browsing the web without restrictions from broadband companies.

John Harrington, CEO for Funds For Learning says “the most recent changes to the E-rate program, released last December, specifically addressed the need to extend broadband connections to every school and library in America,” according to the article.

With Wheeler’s plan, if implemented, more schools and libraries in America will be able to reap the benefits and all students will also be able to access the Internet as an available tool for education.

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Article by Navindra Persaud, Education World Contributor.