FCC Vote Could Create Citywide Wi-Fi Service

By Joseph Palenchar On Oct 4 2010 - 4:01am

WASHINGTON — Wide-area “Super WiFi” hot spots could be one of the results of a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) vote to open up unused “white spaces” in the TV band for unlicensed uses.

Because of the propagation characteristics of the spectrum, which is below 1GHz, Super Wi-Fi signals would travel longer distances and at faster speeds than traditional 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi and also more easily travel through walls, the FCC said in voting for the second time in as many years to redeploy the spectrum. The propagation characteristics mean large markets could be covered by only a handful of base stations.

The spectrum could also be used to deliver low-cost wireless broadband to rural and poor areas, transmit traffic videos, build electric-utility smart grids, create faster home networks, and create services that the FCC said it couldn’t envision.

Although the FCC voted in November 2008 to free up white spaces for unlicensed use, opposition by TV broadcasters, users of wireless microphones, and other constituencies sent the FCC back to the drawing boards to revise rules that it originally developed to prevent interference with over-the-air TV reception and with wireless microphones. The microphones are commonly used by TV news reporters, sports arenas, Broadway theaters, churches and schools.

With the new vote, the FCC also eliminated its previous requirement that two types of sensing technologies be included in unlicensed devices to find spectrum not in use. The change was in response to complaints that the twotechnology requirement would slow the launch of whitespace devices.

The FCC is now requiring only one technology, which is GPS geo-location combined with an as-yet undeveloped database of locations of TV stations, cable-operator head ends, wireless-mike venues and other current white-space users. The database will tell a new white-space device what spectrum it can use in its current location.