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World Radiocommunications Group OKs New WLAN Spectrum

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the look-ma-no-wires dept.

BenFranske writes "The World Radiocommunications Conference will allow a portion of spectrum in the 5GHz band to be used for WLANs, a decision hailed as a 'defining moment' for the WLAN industry. Although this doesn't impact the US much as this spectrum is already being used for wireless networking here, this will help standardize the frequencies worldwide."

6 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. 802.11a? by localghost · · Score: 4, Interesting

    802.11a uses this already, does it not? Was it not allowed internationally already or something?

  2. Contain Indoors? by WC+as+Kato · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The final WRC decision on 5-GHz WLAN spectrum said countries should take "appropriate measures" to restrict use of the 5250-to-5350-MHz bands to indoor use.

    Now, how are you going to do that? Around my house I detect 3 wireless networks running and none of them are mine. Don't tell me that I need to wrap my house with aluminum foil either!

    --
    --- I'm Green Hornet's sidekick not Inspector Clouseau's!
  3. Depends on the ETSI power regulations by Moderation+abuser · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The 100mW EIRP regulations across most of Europe severely limit the usefulness of the current 2.4GHz systems.

    I haven't looked at the regulations for the 5Ghz band but if it's as limited as 2.4GHz it won't be much use.

    --
    Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
  4. Re:5Ghz.. it is the future! by Raindance · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Could you, or someone familiar with the characteristics of high frequency waves, detail any downsides of using the 5Ghz band?

    As I understand it, it'll have shorter range and/or less forgiving of objects in the way (less able to difract around corners as well). Fairly key in home networking!

  5. Re:5Ghz.. it is the future! by CausticWindow · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yes, there are many technical advantages of 5Ghz compared to 2.4Ghz.

    The problem is the health risk associated with these frequencies. When you reach these kind of frequencies, the wavelength is so low that organic tissue will be affected.

    Here is a report from Motorola outlining the problems.

    --
    How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
  6. Re:Who owns the air? by poptones · · Score: 3, Interesting
    With power control and intelligent on-the-fly usage there is no need to allocate "bands." And by using a wider bandwidth you can increase the processing gain in the radio, which means you can have dozens (according to one paper, thousands) of radios all using the same spectrum - all securely (because encryption is inherent to the processing algorithm) and all at the same time.

    Intelligence can be pulled from extremely noisy signals; in some cases the noise isn't even relevant because "digital" can slice through time as easily as spectrum. Digital signal processing changes the field considerably.