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LightSquared Gets Two Senators to Beg For Its Life
Senators Kerry, Graham, Parrot LightSquared's Last Gasp Efforts

Phillip Falcone's checks to both John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) appear to have cleared, resulting in the two sending a letter this week to the FCC urging the agency to try and save LightSquared. The lawmakers say they "understand" the FCC's February decision to revoke LightSquared's license to offer LTE via the 1.6 GHz L-band, but the two lawmakers go on to perfectly parrot LightSquared's recent positions -- namely that the government should exchange spectrum with LightSquared, while at the same time pushing for new GPS receiver rules:

quote:
"Others have rightly pointed out that this situation raises the question of whether the agency should create receiver standards so that license holders operate only in their licensed spectrum," Kerry and Graham wrote..."In the short-term, we urge you to work with industry and the relevant federal agencies to find consensus on alternate spectrum for LightSquared's proposed network...Advancing LightSquared's network in a consensus manner would increase competition in the wireless broadband market and promote the public interest."
Needless to say AT&T, Verizon and the GPS industry have loyal politicians pushing from the other direction. Still, the FCC's refusal to grant a waiver is based on fairly clear science showing that LightSquared's planned LTE network would have severely damaged GPS communications.

LightSquared is very quickly running out of both time and cash, while hopes for any kind of new LTE entrant appear to have now shifted toward Dish Network's potential LTE build. Dish's plans won't suffer from the same interference issues -- but the network may never be built if Dish can be persuaded (or bullied) into selling their spectrum to AT&T.
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25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

Kerry

will do anything for $$$$
rdmiller
join:2005-09-23
Richmond, VA

rdmiller

Member

Re: Kerry

Why? He's filthy rich.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

Re: Kerry

gotta make more $$$$$
Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX

Austinloop to rdmiller

Member

to rdmiller
Correction, I believe that his wife is the rich one.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

Re: Kerry

I do think it is his wife as well.

Add: She is from the H J Heinz Family. The Largest Catsup company from Pittsburgh.

Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA

Premium Member

Re: Kerry

said by 25139889:

I do think it is his wife as well.

Add: She is from the H J Heinz Family. The Largest Catsup company from Pittsburgh.

Nope, Born Teresa Simões-Ferreira in Mozambique to Portuguese parents, Mrs. Kerry was previously married for 25 years to Henry John Heinz III.

Of course now she's filthy rich.
moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned) to rdmiller

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to rdmiller
said by rdmiller:

Why? He's filthy rich.

His wife is filthy rich.
mogamer
join:2011-04-20
Royal Oak, MI

mogamer

Member

Re: Kerry

said by moonpuppy:

said by rdmiller:

Why? He's filthy rich.

His wife is filthy rich.

Right, his wife is filthy rich, he's just a filthy leech.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch to 25139889

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to 25139889
Just about any member of Congress will do anything for money. The real news would be to find one who won't.

I wonder what would happen if, say, the snack food industry offered a politician a sack of money to say that their products are healthy, and, shortly after the politician said this, the fruit industry offered a larger sack of money to that same politician to say that snack foods are inherently unhealthy, and that people should eat fruit instead. The question wouldn't be whether the politician took the second sack of money; it'd be how he or she tried to spin the second statement so as not to directly contradict the first one and tick off the snack food people too much.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

Re: Kerry

Marcy won't! unlike Joe the "plumber"

»marcykaptur.com/

Marcy 2012!!!!!!!

And they'd say they were provided wrong evidence to the first statement!

moddestmike
join:2009-01-26
Houston, TX

moddestmike

Member

Intentions are good....

But this is lobbying at its best folks. I'd love to see more competition but LS has been given numerous opportunities to prove their technology works....and they've failed.

Anyone of a more technical background care to chime in as to why it's exactly LightSquareds fault and not GPS?
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Re: Intentions are good....

Here is why it's LightSquared's fault.

The spectrum that LS got was originally licensed for satellite to ground transmissions. LS wanted to use it for purely terrestrial transmissions, which would have operated at a much higher power than satellites would have. That increased power would have interfered with GPS, not because either LS or GPS is encroaching on the other's frequencies but because GPS receivers wouldn't be able to effectively reject the much stronger LS signal. LS says this is the fault of the GPS manufacturers, who it said used shoddy components to build their receivers. The manufacturers counter that they built their receivers with the expectation that the band LS now has would be used for low-power satellite transmissions, as it was originally allocated for, and not high-powered terrestrial transmissions, as LS wanted to do.

Noles
@bhn.net

Noles

Anon

Re: Intentions are good....

Any GPS manufacturers did use spectrum that is outside of the GPS range for some reasons. FCC did tell them that spectrum is going to be uses for other purpose.

I blame both side of the fight.
tkdslr
join:2004-04-24
Pompano Beach, FL

tkdslr

Member

Re: Intentions are good....

GPS devices don't use any spectrum.. They're just receivers..
some of them might Bluetooth capability (2.4Ghz 1-3mw) but that's it..

The problem occurs when a high power terrestrial transmitter (LS proposed solution) fires up and bleeds modulated RF energy into the GPS band. GPS sat's use a 50 watt transmitter, but are located anywhere from 8000 to 16000 miles up in space.

Needless the say.. the much weaker GPS sat signal will get thoroughly swamped if it's anywhere near s LS tower. No receivable GPS signal == no location.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

Re: Intentions are good....

that is true but as far as personal GPS we've gone YEARS without it just fine. I only see it being an issue for planes and alike. People should be taught how to read maps just in case.

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour

Member

Re: Intentions are good....

said by 25139889:

that is true but as far as personal GPS we've gone YEARS without it just fine. I only see it being an issue for planes and alike. People should be taught how to read maps just in case.

Yeah, sure, the entire rest of the world should be deprived of a good technological advance for the sake of LightSquared's investors and people who can't stand the thought of missing Facebook and Twitter updates.

Look up Digital Selective Calling sometime, and consider how well that would work when somebody pressed the "emergency" button but their GPS was being trashed by the likes of LightSquared.

And how, exactly, would you reconcile the problem with Mexico and Canada? Both share long borders with the U.S. and the citizens in those countries use GPS, too. Would you suggest we tell them "too bad, so sad, but USAians gotta be able to stay on top of their Tiny Towers status?"
Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX

Austinloop to 25139889

Member

to 25139889
I fully support GPS and fully do not support LightSquared. I also know how to read maps, I have Air Force Navigator wings from the time before GPS. I was proficient in the use of sextants for celestial navigation, radar navigation, dead reckoning navigation, etc.

thedragonmas
Premium Member
join:2007-12-28
Albany, GA
Netgear R6300 v2
ARRIS SB6180

thedragonmas to Noles

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to Noles
said by Noles :

Any GPS manufacturers did use spectrum that is outside of the GPS range for some reasons. FCC did tell them that spectrum is going to be uses for other purpose.

I blame both side of the fight.



thats like blaming a wireless headphone manufacturer because the FM station a block away over powers the little 900mhz transmitter rendering the headphones useless..

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour to Noles

Member

to Noles
said by Noles :

Any GPS manufacturers did use spectrum that is outside of the GPS range for some reasons. FCC did tell them that spectrum is going to be uses for other purpose.

Wrong on both accounts. 1. GPS doesn't use any spectrum outside its allocation and 2. The interference issue is precisely because LS wanted to use its allocation in ways other than that for which it had been allocated.
said by Noles :

I blame both side of the fight.

Then you'd be wrong.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

1 recommendation

rradina to moddestmike

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to moddestmike
ISurfTooMuch did a decent job on the technicalities and the only thing I'll add is this is similar to a developer who wants to change the local zoning laws from residential to commercial so that he can build a 24 hour shopping center right next to a quiet subdivision. However, even this egregious example of ridiculous intent doesn't quite cut it. Not only did LS want to upset a quiet subdivision with its rezoning plans but in doing so they would have caused serious degradation or complete disruption of a vital system upon which everything from farmers to the department of defense relies.

The government should completely clean house at the FCC since they should have never granted provisional approval. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to determine that there would have been interference. Of course I understand the administration may have pushed the FCC to grant approval since they were trying to spawn more high speed Internet service. While that's a noble goal, it's another great example of the need to educate policymakers about technical industries lest they put their foot in their mouth.

N3OGH
Yo Soy Col. "Bat" Guano
Premium Member
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs

N3OGH

Premium Member

Re: Intentions are good....

Excellent descriptions by both....
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

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ISurfTooMuch to rradina

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Not only that, but LS could have bid on either the AWS spectrum auctioned several years ago or the 700 MHz spectrum auctioned shortly thereafter. Instead, they decided to take the cheap way out and get the TerreStar spectrum, which they figured they could repurpose.

My mom used to say, "When you buy cheap, you get cheap." What she meant was that the lowest priced item isn't always the best deal because you often wind up with shoddy goods. The older I get, the more I realize that she was right.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

Re: Intentions are good....

the same as "You get what you pay for".

HaloFans
join:2006-12-18

HaloFans

Member

Die monster. You don't belong in this world.

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· ICs6W3d8

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

They should just liquidate LightSquared

GPS is used in many public safety applications and not just your car's navigation system. For example, your riding on a city bus and a violent passenger gets on and assaults the driver and threatens the passengers, the driver has a silent alarm that could be used to summon police without the assailant knowing and the police show up and take the subject into custody without incident thanks to GPS. Without GPS, the driver would have to call over a two way radio or a cellular phone using his voice to describe the emergency and the exact location of the bus and then the dispatcher has to call the police while the assailant becomes more hostile because he/she knows the driver is calling the police. Having used public transportation throughout my life and seeing some pretty bad behavior by other passengers makes me grateful that we have these silent alarms. Or one of your grandparents is having a diabetic crisis and the ambulance company dispatches the closest ambulance faster because they had the GPS location of each available unit on a computer screen, thus eliminating the need to broadcast the call over a radio to see which unit is the closest, thus getting the ambulance there faster. My grandma nearly died from a diabetic crisis and the ambulance got there pretty quickly.

GPS is more important than LightSquare's idea. People's lives are more important. Just liquidate LightSquare and move on.
tkdslr
join:2004-04-24
Pompano Beach, FL

tkdslr

Member

Re: They should just liquidate LightSquared

It's also incorporated in E911 for cell phones..
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En ··· ed_9-1-1

"To locate a mobile telephone geographically, there are two general approaches. One is to use some form of radiolocation from the cellular network; the other is to use a Global Positioning System receiver built into the phone itself. Both approaches are described by the Radio resource location services protocol (LCS protocol)."

Lastly, nearly all cell phone towers use precision GPS timebase signals to manage the time slots between cell phones. Loose the GPS sat signals and the whole cell phone system goes to hell.

Why do you think the Russians are trying so hard to lunch their GLONASS system.
The US can shut down their cell phone network at anytime by selectively scrambling the timebase code received by Russian cell phone towers.

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx

Member

Spectrum Swap

Just what LightSquared really wants; valuable terrestrial spectrum for free. Not only does this cheat the taxpayers out of spectrum revenue but it also rewards LightSquared for pulling a Hail Mary pass. LightSquared should have bid on the various terrestrial auctions such as 700MHz or AWS and built their network using that spectrum. Not picking up totally inadequate spectrum on the cheap and hoping to flip it at no cost for more valuable spectrum. At least Dish's spectrum will not interfere with existing services. Perhaps LightSquared should buy Dish!
desarollo
join:2011-10-01
Monroe, MI

desarollo

Member

Re: Spectrum Swap

Indeed. I think LightSquared should be able to swap its licenses for something more useful, under a *new* policy that spectrum is not auctioned, but leased.

It is high time that spectrum be considered capital and its use treated as such. Each year, the company pays for the privilege. This allows Verizon and AT&T to sit on as much spectrum as they like just like companies who make durable goods can sit on as much factory capacity as they wish; it just makes their product more expensive.

This should apply to every corporate entity.

kevinds
Premium Member
join:2003-05-01
Calgary, AB

kevinds

Premium Member

Receiving Frequency

That, and the Red and Blue frequency shifts satellite signals have, require that the GPS receivers also pickup signal outside the actual transmitted.
old_wiz_60
join:2005-06-03
Bedford, MA

old_wiz_60

Member

Shocked..

Didn't believe Kerry would stoop so low.