The CTIA found that the number of wireless subscriber connections has surpassed the number of people in the U.S. and its territories. It also found a 111 percent increase in wireless data traffic.

While the situation is by all means challenging, the massive eruption of content that sparked it is both encouraging and exciting.

“We’re in this exciting arms race where the creation of content is happening so fast it’s exceeding even these amazing improvements in computing power, these amazing improvements in storage capacity, and particularly, these amazing improvements in connectivity,” said Bruce Mehlman, the former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Tech Policy and the Co-Chair of the Internet Innovation Alliance.

To help solve this problem of congestion, Congress is currently examining legislation that would free up more spectrum from broadcast radio and television companies. While everyone agrees that more spectrum is needed, the dispute is over how it would be distributed and, specifically, the FCC’s role in this process.

In the past, the FCC has had a very active position in managing the auctions. In other words, it has had the power to place restrictions on auctions or conditions on spectrum based on the bidders’ market dominance and spectrum holdings.

However, the bill that’s currently in the House would remove this power from the FCC, which is a move that is sparking a lot of debate. Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt recently called the proposed bill “the single worst telecom bill” he’d ever seen.

The House argues that previous government allocations are the reason that the current “spectrum crunch” is happening. It also believes that limitations in auctions would result in less revenue to help reduce the federal deficit.

As Mehlman explained to us, Congress is remembering what happened in the controversial 2008 spectrum auctions as well as the recent failed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile. He sides with policymakers on this issue because he believes the previous restrictions are to blame for the current problems.

In a post on the Internet Innovation Alliance, Mehlman wrote:

Many in Congress fear FCC micromanagement and seek open auction rules free from FCC interference. The FCC, of course, objects to Congressional micromanagement of their micromanagement, seeking maximum flexibility to set auction rules.

The irony here is that these auctions are needed because the last time this spectrum was assigned, policy makers limited its potential use and transfer. Thus much of the spectrum is under-utilized and our economy suffers for it.

In our recent interview, he expressed concern that the same issues would continue if the FCC were permitted to keep its authority.

“The biggest challenge is if the FCC gets its way and follows through with what many in the House fear they might do, which is limit who’s allowed to compete, I think the very spectrum crunch these very auctions are expected to alleviate doesn’t get alleviated… then problems continue,” pointed out Mehlman.

“I think most people would concede the reason there’s inefficient use of spectrum is because of old government decisions on who could and could not use spectrum,” he continued. “Logically, you want less government constraints in the future.”

Some mobile companies are perfectly happy with the FCC’s authority over the auctions as a group of them led by Sprint and T-Mobile sent a letter to lawmakers asking that the Commission’s position remain the same. AT&T and Verizon are not part of this support since they believe the FCC would favor the smaller carriers.

Incidentally, not everyone agrees that auctions would solve the issue. Rick Whitt, Google’s Washington Managing Counsel, recently indicated that auctions would not completely eliminate the spectrum crunch saying, “Auctions will fall short of meeting that gap.”

Mehlman told us that he agrees with Whitt in that content will likely be created faster than bandwidth can be apportioned. But, he believes that this provides an even greater urgency to get policy in place that would encourage an open marketplace.

“Having everybody eligible to acquire the spectrum and to subsequently sell the spectrum to a higher and better user is letting the market allocate the spectrum,” he said. “If we had done that the first time, we would have less congestion, we’d have more high speed wireless, and, I think, we’d have the same amount of competition.”

“We don’t have a problem with lack of competition, we have a problem with a lack of investment, [and] we have a problem with a lack of spectrum aggregation to meet the marketplace needs,” he added.

Even though Sinclair Broadcast Group CEO David Smith said it was doubtful that Republicans and Democrats would be able to agree on legislation for a broadcast television auction this year, Mehlman thinks it is a possibility. As he explained, this legislation is part of larger jobs bill that both sides want to see pass.

Should auctions be open, or should the FCC have a say? What do you think? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Two intrepid men seek to change all that. Marcos and Mateus Boyington of YUNiTi launched Vendalism.com in December of 2011. Its tool set rivals those that eBay employs while providing extra functions like Craigslist integration all for the low price of free.

“I’ve been using eBay since about the time it was first launched. A few years ago, it occurred to me – why should I have to pay to sell my items?” Marcos Boyington said. “I thought: there really should be a free alternative to eBay.”

The tools included are similar to eBay in that it allows users to set a fixed price, auction or both for their items. It also includes seller and buyer feedback, automatic cross-listings with Google’s Product Search index, allows use of both Paypal and Google Wallet, social networking features with both Twitter and Facebook and the option to submit listings to Craigslist.

Vendalism includes Craigslist protection that does not reveal the users’ email addresses preventing automated spam being sent to said users.

Vendalism also allows for trading of items and letting potential buyers list their best offers for items if the seller thinks the item may not sell at its current price.

Having just launched, there are not many items or any at all for sale in the numerous item categories on Vendalism. Most of the items are being sold by the same person as well. That is likely to change in the coming months as the site picks up more traffic.

At the moment though, it’s going to have to fight an uphill battle against the established Web sites it takes many of its design cues from.

“By making Vendalism.com easy-to-use, powerful, yet free, we think we’ve created a website which is a powerful tool for netizens wanting to sell their products,” Boyington said.

Just ask eBay seller wyliewalczykracing and his latest auction, which stems from a nasty-looking divorce. Granted, I’m not privy to the details of the divorce proceedings, but with the description wyliewalczykracing offers on his current item up for bid — the aforementioned 2010 Camaro SS — it’s plain to see he’s not happy about the way things have played out with his soon-to-be ex-wife, and he’s sure as hell not happy about having to sell his Camaro, which is a casualty of said unhappy ending.

The devil, as they say, is in the details, and the description for his auction item is filled with them, as wyliewalczykracing offers a biting comparison/contrast between his beloved Camaro and the woman he’s divorcing. Let’s just say the Camaro comes out looking like a gem. Not so much for his less-than-significant other. First, the introduction to his comparison:

As much as this car & my wife are loved and will be missed. I am forced to part with both, So my loss is your gain here. The car has less than 10,000 miles on it, her- a little more-just saying. The car has never seen snow, she can be as cold as ice. The car was garage stored when not in use, she is making me move out to the garage. This car has extraordinary acceleration with the 6.2L V8, superior handling, excellent value, head-turning looks, unique interior design, great fuel economy, and a throaty boasting exhaust, which beats a bitchy mouth any day.

Ouch, but then again, the title and subtitle for the description are as telling as anything on the page:

2010 Chevrolet Camaro – Muscle Car

Soon To Be Ex-Wife – Pretentious Witch

2010 Chevrolet Camaro – High Performance Motor

Soon To Be Ex-Wife – Motor Mouth Low performance brain

2010 Chevrolet Camaro – Precision Handling

Soon To Be Ex-Wife – Loose on entry (Take from that, what you will – Ed)

2010 Chevrolet Camaro – Neon Trim Lighting Color Matched To Interior

Soon To Be Ex-Wife – Carpet does not match the drapes

Again, the word “ouch” is applicable. Here’s a screenshot of the entire spec comparison, just in case the auction goes away:

With that in mind, a rebuttal auction from her would be too good to be true.

Along with all of this the rumor mill firing up again about what will happen to Skype. BusinessWeek reports that there was more focus than usual at the annual meeting yesterday on Skype’s place in the eBay fold. Considering the fact that just about everything else is up in the air other than the original core business model this is no surprise. It is not the first time that there has been talk about the possible sale of Skype either.

Turns out the Net phone calling software pioneer enjoyed 20% net income last year, on $550 million in sales in 2008. And unit chief Josh Silverman says the plan is to double sales in the next three years, while maintaining those profits.

Aggressive talk that serves to make one wonder if the Skype division is preening to attract suitors. Talk about more corporate sales and more of a concentration on mobile usage surfaced as well. Most interesting is the talk about putting more effort into Skype’s paid services. I honestly have never considered moving beyond the free services myself.

Back in 2005 ebay bought Skype for $2.5 billion (with a b) and they simply have not seen the return and synergies that were anticipated. CEO John Donohue even went so far to say that “We were wrong” on the projected impact and value.

The bottom line is that the language was carefully constructed to make the point that there is nothing stopping a sale of Skype. You have to suspect that offers would be entertained. Who would be the best fit for this opportunity? Is it even an opportunity or would another buyer run into the same trouble that eBay did? Put your opinion up for bid and we’ll see if anyone is buying.

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They’re also spending quite a bit of cash – around $1.3 billion including Danish companies Den Bla Avis and BilBasene. Total spend comes to about $1.3 billion.

Bill Me Later is an online layaway program where you can make payments on a purchase. eBay will then use PayPal to process the payments. As of last month eBay stopped taking money orders or checks for payment in the US – essentially forcing everyone to use PayPal.

Today, Walmart.com announced that they are accepting PayPal as an option to pay for purchases on the site.

To boost third quarter results, and perhaps to help fund the new purchases, eBay will axe 10% of their workforce across the world. That amounts to around 1,000 people losing their jobs.

In the US eBay has lost out to free online classifieds like Craigslist (which it’s in legal battles with and part owner of) and are aggressively expanding into other countries.

To get more details about eBay’s announcements you can listen to an investor conference call today (Monday, October 6, 2008) at 5:30 a.m. PDT. Or you can watch a webcast live or achived at http://investor.ebay.com.

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A number of premium domain names hit the auction block next week. Moniker.com plans to sell a bunch of them, including the aforementioned big ticket domain, Israel.com.

Moniker disclosed a lengthy list of domains to be auctioned during the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East conference in Orlando. Several intriguing names reside on the list, though none will start with a higher bid than the Israel.com domain.

Pay.com should be of interest to someone in the financial world. Three-letter domains have been bought up for years, and an actual word possesses even more value. It’s an instant branding boost to whoever buys it.

Some of the million-dollar and up domains include yachts.com, AffiliateProgram.com, and Portfolios.com. Moniker CEO Monte Cahn expects to see these domains in the $1 million to $5 million range.

Another domain, Partner.com, could draw much more interest than its $250,000 to $500,000 range. We think interest in this could come from several sectors, like legal, insurance, and financial companies.

If the show’s fortunes were as strong as they have been in prior years, we think Idol.com would be a lock to draw interest from Fox and American Idol. Many of the domains may be found on Moniker’s site.

One of the interesting things that happened was a TechCrunch article that described Andrew Baron selling his Twitter account

It was the weekend, and I was looking for some quick amusement value, so I jumped into the auction on eBay.  Things got really interesting from there.

There’s been a lot of discussion on the TC article and on Twitter itself about how crazy/wrong/idiotic this whole thing is.  Amidst all the noise, a few good points have been made.

Since I’m currently the high bidder, I figured I’d share my two cents as to why I’m bidding on a Twitter account at all (I’m not even that big of a Twitter user yet). 

If you’re an OnStartups reader and like Twitter, you can follow @OnStartups.

Thoughts On Bidding For A Twitter Account

1.  I think of this as being a "digital asset" — akin to a blog.  Like a blog, a Twitter account has a "readership/following".  Just like a blog can be a person/business/hobby/whatever, so can a Twitter account.  Based on this, I don’t see anything inherently wrong with someone selling (or buying) a Twitter account.

2.  Twitter allows you to change the name of an account after it’s been created.  So, I could change the account to www.twitter.com/technogeeks if I wanted (which right now, is still available).  [Note:  That's not the name I'm planning to use, so if you want it, go for it].

3.  The account being sold had 1,400+ followers at the time it was listed and now has 1,600+ followers (presumably because of all the buzz around the sale).  That’s interesting.  Much of the chatter on the account right now is about the sale.  If people were planning on leaving in droves, I’d expect it to start happening already.

4.  Twitter followers can easily "un-follow" an account.  So, although some have made the argument that this is somehow "wrong", the ease (and safety) of opting-out unfollowing makes me feel fine with it.  Contrast this to if a company sold your name as part of a big mailing list.  At least with Twitter, you don’t need anyone else to get you off someone’s follower list.  You want off, you’re off.  It’s that easy.

4.  I’ve been finding more and more interesting people on Twitter lately.  So, although I’ve been skeptical of it, there may end up being a there there.

So, the question is, what am I going to do with the account if I do actually win the auction?  I can’t tell you yet — but I do have some ideas (none of which are nefarious and require an evil laugh).  Stay tuned…

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Google added a little more spin to their position that losing the national C block license to Verizon actually ended up being a good thing for everybody.

Richard Whitt and Joseph Faber, counsels on Google staff, discussed the attention-getting auction on the official Google blog. They touted achieving Google’s top priority, which was to get the bidding for the C block license up over $4.6 billion to activate the open devices and open applications requirements for the winner

“In ten of the bidding rounds we actually raised our own bid – even though no one was bidding against us – to ensure aggressive bidding on the C Block,” the blog post said. “That helped increase the revenues raised for the U.S. Treasury, while making sure that the openness conditions would be applied to the ultimate licensee.”

Google’s strategy looks like it represented an approach to secure a couple of goals. First was to get the open devices and applications requirement attached to the auction winner; Google never believed it could win this auction, based on Whitt’s comments in July 2007.

The second part comes down to their efforts to gain access to the white spaces within bands of the spectrum won by Verizon. T-Mobile and Sprint complained about potential interference with white space wireless access to the FCC in January.

The basic idea about white space access allows Google and its partners in the Wireless Innovation Alliance to set up shop within the 700MHz spectrum. We think there could be a flaw in Google’s plan, one that could stop the white space effort in its tracks.

When Google first said it wanted four open requirements on the auction to guarantee their participation and ensure the FCC would receive no less than $4.6 billion from the rights to 700MHz, the FCC only accepted the two open requirements we mentioned, devices and applications.

It’s long been our position that these were the least important of the two. People can bring wireless phones to carriers that aren’t part of the line of officially offered phones, and get service. As far as applications, other than Skype or any other VoIP client there doesn’t seem to be any difficulty downloading something like Opera Mini onto a phone, even with an existing web browser on the device.

The FCC rejected Google’s other two requests, for open networks and open services. We envision a legal challenge to the white spaces supporters if they ever manage to keep their wireless broadband signals from interfering with TVs and wireless microphones.

It isn’t hard to imagine Verizon telling a judge that using the white spaces infringes on their rights to the spectrum. Open networks and services were not a requirement of the auction winner, and wireless broadband in white space falls more logically into those categories than into open devices or applications.

We like the vision Google has for wireless access, but it seems they need to hope for a change of political parties in the White House, a subsequent replacement for Kevin Martin as FCC chairman with someone more forward-thinking on wireless issues, and possibly a legal decision in their favor over white space access.

An eBay discount on listing fees coupled with management sticking by changes to its policies left the situation between sellers and eBay as it was before the strike.

Depending on the source, eBay either witnessed listings fall to the range of 13 million, as USA Today reported (via DealsCart), or had no change, according to an eBay spokesperson.

Unfortunately for the protesters, eBay behaved as predicted and kept the hotly-disputed fee increases in place. Sellers believe these punish people who sell in small lots, even as eBay courts higher volume dealers.

That summarizes eBay’s strategy for growth. They have targeted volume and are willing to give up some discounts in exchange for receiving more listings. In other words, eBay settled for a smaller piece of the pie, but they want a much larger pie on the table.

The end of the protest leaves small sellers with the need to take a hard look at what they want to do next. If eBay’s fees make selling on the site an unwelcome proposition, places like Amazon.com or Overstock may represent a welcoming alternative.

In August 2006, a smaller scale UK-based protest called for Google to create an auction alternative. That has yet to happen, although Google has the pieces in place to put something together between its Base and Checkout products.