Tom Wheeler - Top U.S. Wireless Innovators of All Time

Tom Wheeler ???> Seriously doesn't anyone remember how he handled the case a few years back where a lady was injured due to here cellular provider locking her cell phone so it couldn't make phone calls while roaming on someone else's network, which was required since her provider had very poor coverage. I was at a conference where this was discussed in advance of this event happening, and myself and the representatives of several other carriers mentioned we allowed any phone to make 911 calls, even the ones not registered on our network. The carrier that eventually ended up in court (and Tom Wheeler defended on a national TV News Show) looked across the table at me and informed me I was a fool since I was missing an revenue opportunity to sell a lower price subscription for this. I mentioned to him that we considered the public service more important that making someone pay a month fee of only $9.95(the actual call has always been free so this person was looking for a way to make money on an otherwise free service).
I wish I could provide a recording of the conversation, but I am sure you understand we were unable to record the proceedings as a couple of the manufactures wanted to. The majority of the cellular providers disagreed with the one carriers position, however Tom Wheeler defended their position as a necessary way to insure the quality of the 911 calls since roaming could allow the subscriber to roam onto someone else network that they couldn't guarantee the quality of the call. This besides being total spin doctoring is what caused the problem since the carrier in question had very poor coverage in that area while the competition had superior coverage and would have been able to handle her 911 call and the emergency could have been averted.

So tell me again why a paper pushing bureaucrat is a innovator. This does disservice to the award as how can you compare this person to people like Veterbi ?