wireless broadband

Ag tech grows in an ecosystem of wireless connectivity

29 December 2020 by Steve Blum
,
Salinas ag tech summit 13jul2018

Agriculture is increasingly dependent on bespoke agricultural technology applications and products, particularly in regions like the Salinas Valley where high value crops are grown. I’m often asked about where to find or how to get connectivity in the fields. The top line answer is: via wireless systems. If wireline connectivity is available, that’s wonderful, but it’s also rare.

So with due regard for the inevitable exceptions and hybrid technologies, there are five types of wireless providers to consider when speccing ag tech deployments.… More

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
, , , ,

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

Microsoft’s rural broadband gamble might have millions of winners

12 January 2019 by Steve Blum
, , ,

The rural/urban broadband divide is deep, according to a report by Microsoft. For people living and working in rural areas, it’s confirmation of what they already know, but it’s valuable nonetheless. Microsoft’s critique of the available data – and the 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload speed standard – is a useful corporate counterweight to the claims made by AT&T and Frontier, which are the telcos receiving the lion’s share of federal broadband subsidies for 10 Mbps down/1 Mbps up service in rural California.… More

U.S. broadband is expensive, even more so where bundles aren’t available

2 January 2019 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Us ave broadband price 2feb2018

The U.S. is in the bottom half of the broadband price league table, according to a report by the Federal Communications Commission. It was published last February, but I just unearthed it and had a chance to take a hard look at the numbers. When you take both standalone and bundled Internet service packages into account, and weight it by the FCC’s market share figures of 25% standalone and 75% bundled subscriptions, the average monthly price ranges from $38 per month to $74 per month, depending on speed.… More

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

25 October 2018 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

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

Small WISPs handed a tougher business case by FCC spectrum decision

24 October 2018 by Steve Blum
, , , , ,

The Federal Communications Commission sided with big, national mobile carriers over small, local wireless Internet service providers (WISPs) yesterday. Whether that’s a good thing or not depends on where you think the market for wireless broadband service is heading.

The issue was use of the 3.5 GHz band (3550 MHz to 3700 MHz), which is frequently used for wireless broadband service – fixed and mobile – internationally, and is particularly sought after for 5G deployments.… More

FCC looks at shifting satellite spectrum to wireless broadband

4 July 2018 by Steve Blum
, , ,

C-band satellite frequencies will be rolled up over time, and turned over to ground-based wireless broadband operators, if the Federal Communications Commission moves ahead with a plan it will consider at its July 2018 meeting.

The satellite industry got it start with C-band back in the 1970s. Those birds sparked a revolution in the television business, allowing the development of cable networks, like HBO and CNN. They also enabled a new wave of satellite TV entrepreneurs, who sold big, back yard dishes to people who lived outside the bounds of cable systems.… More

U.S. senators want cities to act fast on small cell permit applications

3 July 2018 by Steve Blum
, , ,

There’s bad news and maybe a little good news for cities in a draft U.S. senate bill that aims to speed up wireless broadband deployments. Senate bill 3157 was introduced last week by senators John Thune (R – South Dakota) and Brian Schatz (D – Hawaii). It’s a bipartisan and significant pairing – Thune chairs the senate’s commerce committee and Schatz is the ranking democrat on its communications subcommittee.

The bad news is that the bill would reduce the amount of time local governments have to process permit applications for wireless facilities.… More

U.S. senate looks at stomping local wireless property rights and permits

3 November 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

A draft bill bouncing around the U.S senate would preempt state and local ownership of public property when wireless companies want to use it, and would put tight limits on state and local authority to issue permits for wireless facilities on private property. It’s a bipartisan effort, led by senators John Thune (R – South Dakota) and Brian Schatz (D – Hawaii), both of whom are major congressional broadband policy players.

In a lot of ways, it resembles senate bill 649, which was approved by the California legislature this year then vetoed by governor Jerry Brown, who wanted a “more balanced solution”.… More

FCC wants to give "citizens broadband" spectrum to big mobile

25 October 2017 by Steve Blum
, , ,

Some citizens are more equal than others.

The Federal Communications Commission says it wants to assign frequencies in the so-called Citizens Broadband Radio Service using a more traditional, industry-centric approach than previously planned. It’s a significant chunk of spectrum, 150 MHz located between 3.550 GHz and 3.700 GHz in what’s referred to as the “mid-band”.

It’s not pristine territory. Government and other legacy licensees are still operating in that band, and they would be protected. New operators, running under whatever new rules that the FCC eventually adopts, will have stay out of the way of those existing users and coordinate use among themselves.… More