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DaDawgs
Premium Member
join:2010-08-02
Deltaville, VA

DaDawgs to jcremin

Premium Member

to jcremin

Re: Threat to WISP's and ISP's? Free Super WiFi FCC White Space

Ah, thank you it is the old White Space debate with a twist.

To the OP... Yes we want unlicensed access to the white space. Yes it has great range. Even a low power levels. Antennas are a bit larger but not larger than a TV antenna (naturally).

I put up a couple of 700 MHz links for Virginia broadband a few years ago. One was at 60' on poles through more than a mile of heavy forest on the south shore of the Patomac. Worked a treat. The other was about a mile LOS over urban cover but it ran at 1 mw on each end. It was near NSWC Dahlgren. It was a backup and is probably still running. I'm pretty sure they were both illegal but I don't really care as I am no longer employed by that company. he he

Aye, access to the white space would enable much larger coverage areas per pop in forested areas. It would not really help people on the great plains much as 5.8 is vastly superior out there.

The major carriers have been trying to kill the idea all along but hint that the FCC would sell licenses in that spectrum and watch them change their tune. It is sad really, it doesn't matter which party is in charge, the FCC will whore to the highest bidder all the time...

As an aside, I am surprised but proud that PBS called Karl a party pooper.... Well done Karl.

XLBroadband
Premium Member
join:2011-01-20
Frankfort, IL

XLBroadband

Premium Member

Well, thank you for your response. My main concern is that they will be giving it away free. Lets just say they offered 5mbps down/ 1 mbps upload free to everyone, that would really kill the economy when referring to us gatekeepers of the internet.

I know bandwidth and infrastructure costs, so how can they ever imagine they would be able to give free nationwide public access? They were talking about stamping the cpe's out like garage door openers making them super cheap. I really hope this never happens. Wouldn't you think someone is going to have to pay for the infrastructure and tier 1 services?
lutful
... of ideas
Premium Member
join:2005-06-16
Ottawa, ON

lutful

Premium Member

said by XLBroadband :

They were talking about stamping the cpe's out like garage door openers making them super cheap.

"They" have no clue what it will take to mass market 802.22 and most probably are not aware that 802.16 also promised very low-cost broadband solution and failed to deliver.

Meanwhile Atheros (for example) have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to lower cost and size of their mass market "vanilla wifi" chips. WISP CPE designs have become really simple using their sub-$10 chips ... but they can't actually be "stamped out" like garage door openers or given away for free.
jcremin
join:2009-12-22
Siren, WI

jcremin to XLBroadband

Member

to XLBroadband
said by XLBroadband :

My main concern is that they will be giving it away free.

Nobody's talking about doing it for free. News outlets are misinterpreting "unlicensed" for free. Plain and simple, it's not going to happen other than where a company (like Google) may choose to offer it.