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Comments on news posted 2013-07-09 14:31:45: West Virginia University today announced that they're the first University to make space of white space broadband (aka "Super Wi-Fi"), a technology that uses the spectrum freed by the migration to digital television. ..

elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72

Member

If anybody needs connectivity

Its WVA. I can drive hours through WVa without cell data service...

Frank
Premium Member
join:2000-11-03
somewhere

1 recommendation

Frank

Premium Member

Re: If anybody needs connectivity

said by elefante72:

Its WVA. I can drive hours through WVa without cell data service...

there's a reason for that
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72

Member

Re: If anybody needs connectivity

I was referring to the western frontier (N-S) which isn't part of the NSA spying activities, but true enough that does exist.

WVA by far has the worst cell reception on the east coast, I can speak from driving all over damnation.
Jim_in_VA (banned)
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA

Jim_in_VA (banned) to elefante72

Member

to elefante72
it is a beautiful state, but it sure is sorely lacking in cell/broadband coverage

linicx
Caveat Emptor
Premium Member
join:2002-12-03
United State

linicx

Premium Member

Don't Worry

No. Top tier cable and telco companies will work together to lobby state legislators to stop its implementation. They'll even write the legislation.

Competition to telco and cable on a local level is not allowed. Feckless FCC will probably agree that its a bad idea for locals to stop paying $100 a month for their cable or telco bundle. .

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Super WiFi anything but super

Super WiFi is not WiFi at all, it uses TV frequencies 54 MHz to 698 MHz. It needs its own special hotspot device to translate Whitespace connectivity to WiFi connectivity to connect to smartphones for example. And the top speed is about 10mbps. In other words it is a way to connect a central wired Internet connection to remote WiFi APs wirelessly instead of with cables.

»venturebeat.com/2013/07/ ··· tudents/

While standard Wi-Fi uses the 2.4 GHz radio frequency, Super Wi-Fi uses lower frequency TV radio signals — 54MHz to 698 MHz – which travel farther and propagate more effectively over hills and around obstacles such as trees. Maximum range for the signals appears to be about six miles, with a maximum speed around 10Mbps.

“You don’t need special equipment to access Super WiFi,” AIR.U cofounder Bob Nichols told me. The long-haul wireless transfer to transit stations and shelters is done via Super WiFi, but the local connection to students’ laptops is standard WiFi.

So you have a remote WiFi AP with a total SHARED speed of 10 Mbps trying to handle possibly dozens of users. Don't expect great speeds. But I readily admit it is better than no access at all.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

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BiggA

Premium Member

Re: Super WiFi anything but super

So they're using it for wireless backhaul? That's what I thought when reading the article, I couldn't imagine the nightmare that rolling out USB dongles to every student would create, even though the ability to have cellular-like coverage over a whole campus or town would be pretty cool...
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

Re: Super WiFi anything but super

Seems they are using it for backhaul. I can't imagine it will work well though. They will quickly find they don't have much bandwidth to play with. A few youtube videos will slow the network to a crawl.
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72 to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
True they dont like it called wi-fi because some business/association was formed on the name, but it is using the EM spectrum just the same with different protocols, so they aren't compatible today. In 5 years who cares, it's seamless.

It sort like HSPA (and even LTE) magically become 4G. Reality and marketing don't live on the same planet.

I remember when I got my first wifi gw It sucked too and so did compatibility, but it still runs by print server today w/ openwrt...Linksys wrt54g v1.0 But look at today. Once they figure out multiple channels and directionality watch out.

I mean think of FTTN. You could pretty much do away with aging copper if you had base stations instead of VRAD.

The potential for M2M is amazing here, along w/ payments.

The use cases for such valuable spectrum will be even more revolutionary than wifi and bluetooth. Just think in a metro app, P2P communication is now feasible and this presents new levels of potential privacy....

Just think add in some encryption and maybe the NSA cant spy on your walkie talkie cell phones
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: Super WiFi anything but super

Even if they used the same air interface, a Wifi card can only see 2.4ghz and 5ghz...

Bandwidth depends on what they're using for the air interface, and how many channels they can bond together. If they can get several channels all running an LTE-like OFDMA, that would get them maybe ~50mbps a channel...
kjpwv
join:2006-10-24
Fairmont, WV

kjpwv

Member

As Backhaul?

There is fiber running everywhere on campus, this makes no sense unless its a proof of concept, or someone convinced someone that its cheaper than having Verizon come in and do fiber splices, as last I knew it was still contracted out.