WiFi

Wireless broadband systems and indoor networks get big boost as FCC opens up 6 GHz band for unlicensed use

24 April 2020 by Steve Blum
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Home network

The Federal Communications Commissions released 1,200 MHz of spectrum across the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use yesterday. It’s a particular benefit for indoor network, which will be able to use the entire band. The decision puts some limits on unlicensed outdoor use, but even with restrictions it offers a valuable resource for increasing the capacity and sophistication of wide area wireless broadband networks.

The restrictions only allow outdoor use if it’s managed via an automated frequency coordination system, and then only in 850 MHz of the band.… More

WiFi and 5G win spectrum that the satellite and car industries lose

10 January 2020 by Steve Blum
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Pai shapiro 1 ces 7jan2020

Despite his enthusiasm for federalising any policy that touches on telecoms, big footing state and local governments isn’t at the top of Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai’s 5G wish list. Pai and three of his fellow commissioners spoke at CES in Las Vegas earlier this week. When asked about the main barriers to widespread deployment of 5G broadband service, Pai listed cost, spectrum and the availability of trained construction crews.

Although there’s not a lot that a telecoms regulator can do about workforce training or construction costs, spectrum availability is the FCC’s core responsibility.… More

The eternal why not WiFi question has an eternal answer

5 July 2019 by Steve Blum
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The retro look.

Every so often someone asks me something like why can’t we just use WiFi to deliver broadband service? For those of us who’ve been working in the community broadband sector for a decade or more, the question was settled with the collapse of the Great Muni WiFi Bubble more than ten years ago. But for most, that’s a relic of the distant and dim pre-iPhone past, when rocking good service was measured in kilobits and the fastest way to download a movie was to drive to a store and rent a video.… More

FCC wants to open 1,200 MHz of spectrum to unlicensed users, and that’s a lot

25 October 2018 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission is considering a radical overhaul of the way licensed spectrum is managed, and shared with unlicensed users. Besides upping the stakes for wireless Internet service providers this week, the FCC began considering a plan to open up a massive 1,200 MHz slice of spectrum in the 6 GHz range to WiFi, Internet of things (IoT) and other new and unlicensed uses.

It’s a lot of bandwidth. The 2.4 GHz band originally used for WiFi is only 83 MHz wide, and the newer 5 GHz band is 150 MHz.… More

Ready or not, T-Mobile wants to push ahead into unlicensed bands

6 August 2016 by Steve Blum
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Standard-setting groups have been trying to work out a peaceful coexistence strategy for traditional WiFi and carrier-class mobile data traffic in unlicensed bands. The mobile industry’s primary thrust is the LTE-U protocol, which would use the same basic technology as licensed 4G cell sites in the same bands as WiFi, with, it is hoped, sufficiently intelligent, active management of transmissions so as not to crowd out everyone else.

The Federal Communications Commission has to certify that the equipment being used meets its rules for operating in unlicensed spectrum, and it has held off doing so until the Wi-Fi Alliance comes to an agreement with mobile industry groups, including the LTE-U Forum, on coexistence plans.… More

WiFi is worth more to the economy than congress thinks, FCC commission says

25 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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What’s the value of free? That’s the question that FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is asking as she pushes for more WiFi – i.e. unlicensed and available to everyone at no cost – spectrum to be allocated. The core problem, as she sees it, is that congressional analysts don’t understand what freely available spectrum is worth to the U.S. economy…

Traditionally, the legislative process has overlooked the value of the unlicensed spectrum and favored licensed spectrum.

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Unlicensed spectrum needs clear rules or no rules, not guesswork in between

29 December 2015 by Steve Blum
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Not just another monkey.

There are no rules against blocking someone else’s WiFi hotspot, according to the two republican members of the Federal Communications Commission. Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly posted dissents to a decision to fine M.C. Dean, a concessionaire at the Baltimore convention center, $718,000 for interfering with attendees ability to connect to their own mobile hotspots.

On the surface, it’s a Catch-22 argument: Pai and O’Rielly are saying that since people who use unlicensed spectrum – Part 15 users, in FCC jargon – have to accept any interference they receive, interfering with them isn’t really interference.… More

Two more WiFi bullies slapped down by FCC

7 November 2015 by Steve Blum
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Hefty fines have again been assessed against hospitality companies that interfere with guests’ personal WiFi hotspots, or seem to. The Federal Communications Commission nailed a concessionaire at the Baltimore convention center for $718,000…

The Enforcement Bureau’s investigation found that M.C. Dean engaged in Wi-Fi blocking at the Baltimore Convention Center on dozens of occasions in the last year. During the investigation, M.C. Dean revealed that it used the “Auto Block Mode” on its Wi-Fi system to block consumer-created Wi-Fi hotspots at the venue.

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FCC fines WiFi operator $750K for jamming at convention centers

4 September 2015 by Steve Blum
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It’s kinda like poisoning your water bottle to make you buy a $10 coke.

The Federal Communications Commission has nailed another company for trying to force people onto its own, very expensive WiFi service by jamming personal hotspots created by mobile phones and cellular wireless routers. Smart City Holdings, which sells WiFi access in convention centers for $80 a day, was fined $750,000 for forcing visitors onto its network. According to the FCC consent decree, it was the result of a complaint…

In October 2014, the Bureau’s Spectrum Enforcement Division undertook the Investigation, which included sending a series of Letters of Inquiry to Smart City and reviewing the company’s written responses.

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Santa Clara finds muni WiFi success by matching expectations to reality

2 December 2013 by Steve Blum
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If the City of Santa Clara had promised residents a free all singing, all dancing WiFi broadband service, it would be getting slammed as a failure right about now. The service it launched earlier this year has trouble with throughput to mobile devices and it really doesn’t do a very good job with streaming video.

Instead, the city is trumpeting its success. And deservedly so. According to its recent press release…

“The system is getting over a thousand more users per day than we expected during peak periods,” said John Roukema.

… More