Google Urges National Inventory of Radio Spectrum

Hugh Pickens writes "Google, the wireless industry, and consumer advocates have come together to support a bill that would require the federal government to take a complete inventory of the national airwaves to determine what spectrum is being used, how it is being used and who is using it. The government needs to clean up its sloppy record keeping, they say, or the US risks running out of wireless capacity with the increasing use of the mobile Internet. 'Radio spectrum is a natural resource, something that here in the US is owned by all of us American citizens,' wrote Richard Whitt, Google's counsel for telecom and media. 'Most of us don't give it much thought — and yet use of these airwaves is precisely what makes many of our modern communication systems possible.' The new law, if passed, would require the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration to report on the use of all spectrum bands between 300 megahertz and 3.5 gigahertz, including information on the licenses or government user operating in each band and whether the spectrum is actually in use. The unusual alliance between Google, public interest groups, and big telecommunications companies may be temporary. The telecom companies want to have the opportunity to buy any extra spectrum at an auction while Google advocates the use of new technologies that would allow the spectrum to be shared by whoever needs it."

Comments

Way to go, Google.

[FlickieStrife]

The idea of shared spectrum, i like it. Basically like Public access tv, but in microwaves and without the creepy guys singing mary had a little lamb.

Re:Way to go, Google.

[marco.antonio.costa]

Its fucking awesome, that's what it is! :D

Spectrum should not be opened for auction

[BadAnalogyGuy]

RF waves surround us and penetrates us. Only I should be allowed to determine what passes through my body, not some deep-pocketed, top-hat wearing moneybag.

Spectrum should be free!

Re:Spectrum should not be opened for auction

[davester666]

You CAN determine which RF waves pass through your body right now. Say hello to tin foil!

National Parks

[Ozoner]

Great idea...

It's like Big Business saying "National Parks are not in use, so you should sign them all over to us..."

Re:National Parks

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Funny you should mention that; because that is pretty damn close to what happens.

Now, actually signing over national parks, particularly the photogenic ones, would be a bit too noticeable; but the stuff that gets pulled on second tier regions is pretty shocking.

Good old Teapot Dome is perhaps the instance with the highest historical profile; but exploitation of federally held lands by private interests, often destructively(overgrazing, hard rock mining, etc.) and almost universally for pennies on the dollar of their actual value is the rule rather than the exception.

Re:National Parks

[benjamindees]

Anyone can get a permit to cut wood in a National Forest. It is public land, after all. And recently, businesses have been given the same opportunity in order to clear out wood that would otherwise contribute to the frequency and severity of forest fires.

Besides, unlike National Parks, the government isn't saving radio spectrum for future generations. They're just denying access to a common resource.

Re:National Parks

[ignavus]

Great idea...

It's like Big Business saying "National Parks are not in use, so you should sign them all over to us..."

Yeah. I often like to wander through the unused areas of the spectrum admiring the peace and quiet.

Its noteworthy ...

[PPH]

... that this exercise is only being conducted on the spectrum above 300 MHz. Up where the telecoms are interested in buying it.

Re:Its noteworthy ...

[drmofe]

And stops at 3.5GHz, bizarrely, while there is still a lot of very useful spectrum above and beyond that, including the ISM and UNII bands at 5GHz. No point in going as far as 60GHz, since that is next to useless, apparently.

At least it's not the HF bands...

[bhtooefr]

But this could screw over amateur radio... a bunch of very desirable spectrum combined with the people actually using it dying off.

Re:At least it's not the HF bands...

[vitaflo]

Exactly. Radios were cool in their time. But what does it give you in the internet age that a chat room or forum doesn't?

An ad hoc emergency communication network when your precious internet, cell phone, etc, fails (see 9/11, Katrina, etc). It may seem old hat, but these "uncool" radios and the people who operate them can help save lives when all hell breaks loose.

Re:At least it's not the HF bands...

[Skuld-Chan]

Disclaimer: I'm a ham radio operator - got my extra class license back when you had to pass a morse code test, and I'm 32.

Anyhow above 300 mhz most bands are technically tertiary use to hams if you do some investigation. Also most are somewhat small - I think 900 mhz being the exception where last I checked there was 28 mhz allocated to hams (going off memory here). There again there is way more bandwidth available the higher you go.

I think the part that is near impossible to determine is "is this bandwidth being used". In certain parts of the country (rural especially) you could listen to a frequency where you know there is a 911 paging service in place (specifically used to dispatch medics, alert doctors etc) and not hear a single thing for days, but that could easily be argued as an essential service.

I think what its aimed at is the military really - who technically has primary rights to all that bandwidth, and one could easily argue they don't use it all.

If google is reading this - please don't touch amateur radio - it is after all where a good amount of the innovators in modern communication come from, and if they can't experiment it will stifle your and our countries ability to innovate.

Re:At least it's not the HF bands...

[Anonymous Coward]

>>> I'm actually a bit surprised that this doesn't exist already in the form of licensing records. It probably does, but isn't accessible or searchable in a useful manner.

What may really surprise you, then, is the way the amateur radio bands above 300MHz, are allocated and used.

First, "licensing records" for the amateur radio service won't help you glean that information because individual amateurs are NOT assigned to a particular channel/frequency the way most other users of the spectrum are. Every ham who is, by dint of their license, allowed access to the various ham bands, does so on a *shared* basis with NO claim to the rights to a particular frequency.

Second, nearly all of the spectrum allocated to the amateur radio service above 300MHz is on a secondary basis to other services, usually to the government radiolocation service or other broadband noise generator. The few slivers that are primary to amateur radio are up in the microwave region at frequencies that are highly susceptible to attenuation due to resonance with various molecules, such as water and oxygen, and are considered undesireable by normal services.

Third, the reason the foregoing reasons work is that the amateur radio service uses a "listen before transmit" protocol, unlike many other spectrum users who assume that they have exclusive rights to a given frequency. This has been cited in many of the recent decisions by the FCC, both at the staff and Commission level as a stellar example of how things should REALLY work.

Fourth, much of the spectrum now being used by so-called "wireless devices", such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other unlicenses low-power emitters is spectrum that is already allocated to the amateur radio service on a secondary basis to the government radiolocation service - i.e., the 2.3, 3.4, and 5.7 GHz. bands.

Some folks seem to think that amateur radio is not using its current allocations, and that is simply not true. The 70cm band (420-450MHz) is heavily used for voice and data repeaters, as well as inter-repeater and control links, amateur television, and narrow-band communications. In fact, this heavy usage has caused heartburn for at least one of the government agencies using that band for its purposes, resulting in some re-engineering of the amateur facilities.The 23cm band (1240-1300MHz) is rapidly evolving as the band of choice for wideband data links (e.g. the 128kbit/sec D-Star systems), as well as mobile operations using FM analog voice repeaters, but again, in some geographic areas, careful (and quiet) discussions over technical parameters of such activites with the primary users was/is necessary.

So, before Google or anyone else decides they want to steamroll over other spectrum users, they need to consider the ramifications of what they want. It's taken a hell of a lot of work by many, many differing interests to make the 700MHz band available to land-mobile, particularly public service agencies, and the technology to permit the use of wi-fi devices on unused television channels has been developed. Many government and non-government users in the 2GHz region have been shifted around in the spectrum to make room for 3G cell phones so teeny-boppers can download music videos and text each other while driving. It would be nice to see the spectrum used in a more sensible manner, rather than squandered.

Re:At least it's not the HF bands...

[Jawn98685]

I've got news for you. The notion that HAM's can step in and effectively fill a void in such a rare scenario is, largely, a myth. And before you start, I am a licensed amateur radio operator and a retired emergency services professional (fire and EMS), so yes, I do know what I am talking about.
It is true that there are groups of disciplined operators, who are given the opportunity to train with emergency services agencies, so that capabilities may be known and proper procedures worked out and learned. These dedicated amateurs can indeed be a valuable resource, if properly utilized. I've seen it work that way, but unfortunately, such situations are extremely rare. Most hams would simply get in the way, often through no fault of their own.
So let's dispense with the "...because there might be a flood, or something..." argument for

" ...to be shared by whoever needs it."

[iFiLa]

Who has the torrent?

Who Is This "us"?

[rsmith-mac]

I'm not sure who "us" in "owned by all of us American citizens" is supposed to be. I know I'm a citizen, and my neighbor is one too. But the last time I checked, Google is not a United States citizen. Only people can be citizens. People are people, my dog thinks he's people, and even Soylent Green is people, but Google is not a member of the "people" class.

Perhaps the lawyer meant "owned by all of the American citizens" or "owned by all of you American Citizens". Because if Google's not a citizen, they sure can't own any radio spectrum. Unless Google things they own something that doesn't belong to them...

Re:Who Is This "us"?

[TheRaven64]

You know, Google doesn't actually write things. People employed by Google write things, and a great many of them are US citizens.

They're actually onto something.

[ciscoguy01]

Before Nextel was bought by Sprint that company (Nextel) was run by some shrewed cookies. They would find a frequency that was not currently being used, and put a beacon on it. Somehow this claimed it for them.

There's *lots* of spectrum that is not being used, like the 2 MHz part of the 220MHz Amateur band that was taken away from ham radio but never actually used by UPS, for whom it was taken.

There are channels of the 2.6 GHz licensed band in LA that have been licensed to the Catholic church for decades and they have continuous analog video on it related to Catholic schools. Like they need that today! I heard about that from the coordination authority for that band. No channels were available, but not for good reason.

If Google's idea is that underutilized spectrum should be opened up to shared usage that might be much better than the way it is now.