More than a dozen tech and cable companies have joined forces for a coalition hoping to expand and improve Wi-Fi networks.

WifiForward boasts heavyweight partners like Google, Comcast, Microsoft, Charter Communications, and Time Warner Cable. Its goal: free up more spectrum to lessen the stress on networks currently bogged down by massive use.

Specifically, the coalition’s mission statement describes WifiForward as “an ad hoc, broad-based group of companies, organizations and public sector institutions working to alleviate the Wi-Fi spectrum crunch and to support making Wi-Fi even better by finding more unlicensed spectrum.”

Use of unlicensed spectrum does not require an FCC license but users do need certified radio equipment and must comply with technical requirements like power limits. It applies to things like Wi-Fi hotspots, medical equipment, wireless headsets, baby monitors, cordless phones, remote care door openers, RFID technologies, and wireless keyboards.

But just as carriers have urged the release of more spectrum for mobile data use, the firms behind WifiForward also believe that Wi-Fi networks will suffer if more spectrum is not allocated. Wi-Fi devices are expected account for a majority of total Internet traffic by 2017, which is “like trying to fit rush hour traffic down a two-lane highway,” the coalition said.

According to the group, lawmakers recognize the importance of Wi-Fi, but “we must move beyond policy statements and never-ending proceedings to decisive action.”

“Policymakers and regulators should protect Wi-Fi and promote investment and growth through initiatives that strengthen existing Wi-Fi spectrum designations, free up new frequencies for Wi-Fi and establish transparent and predictable rules for Wi-Fi spectrum,” WifiForward said.

In Sept. 2012, former FCC chairman Julius Genachowski submitted a proposal for incentive spectrum auctions that would allow TV broadcasters to voluntarily sell off unused spectrum to companies that would use it for mobile broadband purposes. But the proposal would also free up “a significant amount of unlicensed spectrum for innovative WiFi-like uses, and create the first uniform, national low-band unlicensed spectrum in any country,” he said at the time.

Action on those incentive auctions has moved forward, but in the wake of the disastrous HealthCare.gov launch, current FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said recently that the commission will hold off on conducting the incentive auctions until at least 2015 to make sure it’s done right.

Initial partners in WifiForward, meanwhile, include the American Library Association (ALA), Arris Group, Best Buy, Broadcom, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), Charter Communications, Comcast, CompTIA, Engine Advocacy, Fastback Networks, Google, the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM), Microsoft, Motorola, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB), and Time Warner Cable.

Not surprisingly, these companies have an interest in healthy Wi-Fi access. Google WiFi provides free wireless Internet service to the city of Mountain View, and the search giant has also committed to providing Wi-Fi to San Francisco parks and Starbucks. Comcast and Time Warner Cable, meanwhile, which just announced plans to merge, also offer customers free access to Wi-Fi hotspots.