The national broadband plan has grand ideas for hooking people up to high-speed Internet, as well as solving a problem that has existed since 9/11: interoperable communications. The problem? The cost, which may be funded via a "national broadband fee" tacked onto your bill.

The has grand ideas for hooking people up to high-speed Internet. But the plan also crafts a solution to a problem officials have been trying to solve since 2001  interoperable communications.

On the other hand, the plan also floats the idea of a "national broadband fee," paid for by taxpayers.

The plan, which the Federal Communications Commission presented to Congress this week, calls on the government to use the power of broadband to improve public safety. Specifically, that includes the creation of a nationwide interoperable public safety wireless broadband communication networks by 2020.

"The country must do better," the FCC wrote. "With broadband, 911 call centers could receive text, pictures, and videos from the public and relay them to first responders, [and] the government could use broadband networks to disseminate vital information to the public during emergencies in multiple formats and languages."

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, state and local fire and police officials responded to the call for help, but their equipment was not interoperable, causing communication problems. Police could not warn fire department officials about falling debris. Port Authority police could not tell state police to get out of a building, and so on.

The creation of a truly interoperable system has been talked about in Washington ever since, but nearly nine years later, no such thing exists.

The FCC's plan takes a three-pronged approach, the first of which calls on the FCC to open up some spectrum so networks don't become jammed during an emergency.

The January 2008, 700-MHz spectrum plan set aside the D-block for public safety use, but it willing to pay the $1.3 billion reserve price. The FCC report suggests not focusing solely on the D-block, but engaging in partnerships with commercial operators for public safety use of wireless spectrum more broadly. Basically, if there's an emergency, first responders get to hop on available networks  not just those in the D-block  and are given first priority if that network is at capacity. However, the plan also doesn't explain how that would happen.

That would be funded by federal grants, the FCC said.

The plan also calls for the creation of an Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC). Housed within the FCC, ERIC would ensure that all these apps, devices, and networks work together.

"Focusing on interoperability from the beginning should help the public safety broadband network to overcome the difficulties faced by other earlier voice efforts," the report said.

All these suggestions are useless without money, though. While a majority of the recommendations made in the 376-page FCC report are "budget-neutral" because they would ideally be funded by spectrum auctions and private investment, the public safety section is one of several that would require Congress to okay funding.

The FCC estimates that the interoperable network would require as much as $6.5 billion over 10 years, with most of that money needed between the second and fifth year. The costs associated with keeping these efforts going and sustainable, however, could be between $12 billion and $16 billion. Congress should allocate this money no later than FY2012, the report said.

Another way to get those funds? Add a surcharge to broadband service. "Imposing a minimal public safety fee on all U.S. broadband users would be a fair, sustainable and reasonable funding mechanism. The fee should be sufficient to support the operation and evolution of the public safety broadband network," the FCC said.

The FCC would also need an additional $6.9 million and $1.9 million every year thereafter to continue the FCC's Project Roll Call, which keeps tabs on the operational status of wireless and broadcast communications.

The public safety section of the report also touches on cyber-security. It calls on the FCC to: deliver a cyber-security roadmap to Congress within 180 days; require broadband and VoIP providers to report all outages; and create a cyber-security information reporting system with the Department of Homeland Security, among other things.

Finally, the plan includes proposals for next-generation 911 systems, which will incorporate broadband into the 911 system. The plan recommends that Congress tell the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration to issue a report on costs, which will be used to develop of a federal regulatory framework for NG911 deployment.

"The plan's recommendations for advancing public safety and homeland security draw upon an extensive record and incorporate input from the public safety community, service providers, vendors and countless others," Jamie Barnett, chief of the FCC's public safety and homeland security bureau, said in a blog post. "We truly appreciate the efforts of all who contributed to development of these recommendations, which we believe will revolutionize public safety communications and emergency response."

UPDATE: FCC spokesman Rob Kenny said Thursday that any fee assessed for the public safety network would be nominal and less than $1 per month, per user.

"The public safety fee would be tens of cents per wireless user per month (certainly less than $1 dollar)," he said via e-mail. "This is still being reviewed and no definitive range or figure has been estimated. We will continue to review this."

"We are confident that the recommendations in the National Broadband Plan provide a framework to ensure that there is a nationwide interoperable wireless broadband network for America's first responders. It is vitally important that we create a broadband network for public safety that enables them to respond to emergencies rapidly and cohesively," Kenny concluded.