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Open Spectrum: Toward Ubiquitous Connectivity

Posted by michael on from the always-on-always-online dept.

obiwan2u writes "ACM's Queue magazine has a moderately dense article describing how new intelligent radios may free up under-utilized spectrum bandwidth, possibly providing solutions to the last mile bottleneck."

7 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. This will never happen by thinkliberty · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The FCC won't go for it. knowing Morse code is still a requirement to use HF ham bands, even though you can now use a computer to code/decode it. See www.nocode.org
    I can't think of one positive the FCC has done for RF bandwidth in a long time. Why would they start with this?

  2. Re:Last mile, what's it worth? by El · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yes, broadband IS a priorty in rural areas. I own a property for which it costs over $10,000 to run a cable to the house. I assure you, wireless broadband would be not only faster, but cheaper. (The best I can do there now is ISDN)

    --

    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

  3. This NEEDS to happen! by Got-Tea-Rolls · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Seriously, I live only 3 miles from the DSL limit and it angers me greatly. I have a crappy 24.4 connection. This would be great if I could be able to download stuff at highspeed. A few weeks ago I had to drive into town and go to a business of a friend to download a patch for Mac OSX that was 85mb. Satellite sucks, if this could eliminate the last mile problem that would be great.

  4. Riiighht.... by weston · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Just like modern tuning and broadcasting equipment freed up spectrum resources for low power FM....

    Tech's half the story. How the authorities see fit and/or are lobbied to allocate spectrum is the other half.

    --
    Tweet, tweet.
  5. The myth of interference by xixax · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This reminds me of David Reed's idea that our current method of allocating chunks of the radio spectrum is as stupid as the idea of licencing colours.

    Xix.

    --
    "Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
  6. The Grass Roots by poptones · · Score: 2, Interesting
    But the way that needs to be answered is at the grass roots level. And one great way you ensure that is through civil disobedience - that is, lots of small communities making use of new technology in their local infrastructure and proving it works. Once you have a critical mass of support at that level, state representatives have no choice but to lobby in their behalf.

    Is there any GPL software, fairly widely used, that supports an open standard for voice communications? Sure, I know there are plenty of standards for VOIP, but what's being used, now? If I went to my neighbors and told them we could "unwire" the neighborhood using cheap PCs and have not only local phone service but also faster internet connectivity than we get now, half the people in this very rural "town" of 200 would pony up tomorrow.

    But, so far as I know, that technology doesn't yet exist. And until it does - until "broadband" means reliable, versatile connection to your neighbors rather than just really fast porn access, you can hang pervasive broadband on a hatrack.

  7. Test it in unlicensed spectrum first by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Open spectrum advocates can gain a lot of credibility by demonstrating techniques like SDR, cognitive radio, and mesh networking in the existing unlicensed bands. (The article mentions LocustWorld, which is a commendable example.) Once there's quantitative information on the benefit of the technology it will be appropriate to ask the FCC to reconsider the current spectrum policy.