Comments on: All You Need to Know About White Spaces Broadband

By: E-books and White Spaces on the Rise in Q3: Tech News «

E-books and White Spaces on the Rise in Q3: Tech News « — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:45:45 +0000

[...] sales and services. Despite a number of challenges faced with building out this unused spectrum — including the challenge of ensuring noninterference between unlicensed devices — the ruling would encourage entrepreneurs and innovators to develop new technologies that can [...]

By: Worried About Tablets the FCC Gets Serious About Spectrum: Tech News «

Worried About Tablets the FCC Gets Serious About Spectrum: Tech News « — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 17:10:42 +0000

[...] licensing program, which allows for the testing of new protocols and technologies such as White Spaces broadband to make it to make it easier to try them out and see if they work. Changes would include easing [...]

By: FCC Chairman: Why We Need More Wireless Spectrum | Voip Board

FCC Chairman: Why We Need More Wireless Spectrum | Voip Board — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 21:04:53 +0000

[...] is the first time in 25 years that the FCC has passed an order that frees up wireless spectrum and makes it available unlicensed for innova…. “Wireless in general is very central to our economic growth,” Chairman Genachowski [...]

By: FCC Chairman: Why We Need More Wireless Spectrum: Tech News «

FCC Chairman: Why We Need More Wireless Spectrum: Tech News « — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 00:02:06 +0000

By: Mubaraq Mishra

Mubaraq Mishra — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 06:28:22 +0000

Lower frequency does not mean lower speeds. The lowers frequency means that attenuation is low. The 6MHz bandwidth does limit the data rate.

By: Mubaraq Mishra

Mubaraq Mishra — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 06:24:45 +0000

White Spaces are not really WiFi on steroids. Since propagation in these frequencies is good, the interference footprint is also larger. Furthermore, these bands are polluted due to the presence of DTV broadcasts.

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 04:00:37 +0000

“Because of its lower frequency, white spaces can offer much broader reach and better penetration through walls than the current spectrum used for Wi-Fi. For example, a Super Wi-Fi network could cover 16 times more area than a traditional Wi-Fi hot spot.”

A little misleading. Lower frequency does mean greater range and better penetration of obstacles. However, total network capacity is proportional to the carrying-capacity of a given swath of bandwidth times the number of discrete access points. A “Super Wi-Fi network” would actually drastically reduce the overall capacity of a white space network. This may be necessary where users are few and far between, but it would be a tremendous waste of the potential of the technology; in dense urban areas using many low power access points operating at obstacle penetrating frequencies.

“White spaces also offer the promise of faster speeds, up to 100 megabits per second. That can be used for end users or to connect local Wi-Fi hotspots.”

I didn’t get the memo the the laws of physics had been repealed. Lower frequencies means lower speeds. The advantage of lower frequencies again is getting through obstacles. As for the 100 megabits/sec, if true, we’re not taking about a lot of simultaneous users here.

By: alex benik

alex benik — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 13:53:34 +0000

Brian- you hit on the key issue, MHz. The marketing term WiFi on steroids is misleading and just lame. Whitespaces use TV channels of 6MHz. Of course the lower frequencies will have better propagation but also much lower data rates. This is a great development but lets be realistic about what they capabilities really are.

By: Brian S Hall

Brian S Hall — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:19:56 +0000

Ryan, I hope Om and company realize that you are kicking it! I have high expectations for white spaces, the whole interference issue is, in my opinion, a red herring by entrenched broadcasters.

Only, you don’t say the size (e.g. MHz range) of this new allotted spectrum. Is there an equivalent throughput rate we can compare it to? Thanks.

By: Get Ready to Innovate! FCC Approves White Spaces Rules: Tech News «

Get Ready to Innovate! FCC Approves White Spaces Rules: Tech News « — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:19:26 +0000

[...] a previously approved database that would monitor existing spectrum uses in each market. This was a major question coming in, whether device makers would have to include the technology and how often the devices would have to [...]