FCC Pointing to iPad as Harbinger of Increased Wireless Spectrum Needs

[ChefJayPeek]

I agree with you, statistics aren't facts. I'm wrong to use that as facts. What I meant was, regardless of the rest of the World, USA should be mandated to have fibre to every home in order to push progress as well as overhauling the power grid to next generation, but i disgress, it's a different story for another time.

Are you serious? Mandating fibre to every home? SERIOUSLY? Do yo have any idea on how many people in the USA do not live in a city? SERIOUSLY???? I live in a town of 1250 people, I have 3G and DSL, I live on 4 acres of land. My neighbors are WAY apart from me. Fibre would not even be remotely profitable right now here. SERIOUSLY? I am not even 30 minutes outside of the 4th largest city in the USA, and you think the government should MANDATE fibre to every house? REALLY? Do you have any freaking idea how much that would cost? Would I like fibre to my house? Sure. You know what though? My DSL here is faster than the DSL at work, and my 3G is WAY faster than the 3G almost everywhere else in Houston. Yes, in my little town.

Fibre to every house... laughable. In Japan or European countries or Hong Kong, sure, where the population densities are really high, but in the USA? Not going to happen, and that should NOT be mandated by the government.

Let Verizon and ATT compete. FIOS will come here when Verizon feels it is worth it. ATT will answer with uVerse. Do not tell me that the government needs to tell the providers what they have to do, because it will just increase everyones bills. I don't want fibre at my house at 200 bucks a month because the government tells Verizon and ATT they have to do it.

Chef Jay

 

[muncyweb]

Sounds like it's time for Government to step in and save the day... what we really need is a spectrum bailout

Indeed, I vote for increased taxes and full body scanners for all cell phone users.

 

[musiciscool]

wireless hell...

Anyone else worried at all about the increase in microwave energy we becoming bombarded with now? Everything is going wireless, even our earphones, those waves affect our body and in the near future this is going to be a bigger problem than the issues with Big Tobacco. I'm sure I'll get flamed for this, but the facts are no one wants to consider it because its too cool & convenient to have wireless gadgets. But so was smoking, it meant the difference between being a nerd and getting laid in the 50s. The FCC used to put warning on cell phones, and that was before there was a tower in every neighborhood.....

 

[Mac-Mariachi]

Wi-Fi iPad

i think that´s why the wi-fi iPad will come out first. So die hard fans will go out and buy that one because we will not wait a month for the 3G version. That way several hundred thousands or more ipads will not use ATT´s or whaterver carrier backbone.

 

[scoobydoo99]

Go see the "Table of Frequency Allocations" from the NTIA which is published by the FCC. Most people simply don't know what is being done in the higher spectrum and if its auctioned off, there is going to be chaos for a few years.

http://www.fcc.gov/oet/spectrum/table/fcctable.pdf

Thanks MacCurry for trying to explain the meaning of this news to people who obviously don't understand! This article is NOT about ATT, Verizon, or the quality/speed of their networks! It is about the allocation of frequencies from the FCC and the (proposed) need to allocate additional frequencies for mobile broadband.

Thanks also for the link, I was going to search for that info myself

For those who may not immediately understand the allocations, check out page 19 for "BROADCASTING" and you will find your FM radio station frequencies (87.5-108). Interestingly, the next section "AERONAUTICAL MOBILE", 117.975-137, is in my area of expertise, Air Traffic Control, and as we work on our Next Generation ATC system, we envision moving away from voice communication with aircraft to data communication (a la text messaging), which may actually increase the spectrum we need, as more and more data starts flowing back and forth between ATC and aircraft.

Personal mobile communication frequencies can be found on page 28 (2G), page 34-35 (3Gand UTMS1700).

 

[Breckenridge]

AT&T's service works great in our area for about 6 months out of the year. Nevertheless, as soon as the ski season hits and skiers start flooding our town with their iPhones and 3G smart phone, it becomes almost impossible to use AT&T's 3G network and all iPhone owners I know start reporting dropped phone calls. When I turn off 3G things go back to normal for the most part with very slow data access. I have called At&t many times and they always told me that according to their readings on iPhone, the network is working properly, they even accused me of damaging my iPhone and asked to to buy a new one! I would have to agree with the FCC on this subject. I wished Apple would be a little more open minded an drop the exclusivity BS and provided an iPad that is compatible with T-Mobile frequencies and possibly iPad versions that are compatible with sprint and verizon.

 

[Bill&Rose]

AT&T's service works great in our area for about 6 months out of the year. Nevertheless, as soon as the ski season hits and skiers start flooding our town with their iPhones and 3G smart phone, it becomes almost impossible to use AT&T's 3G network and all iPhone owners I know start reporting dropped phone calls. When I turn off 3G things go back to normal for the most part with very slow data access. I have called At&t many times and they always told me that according to their readings on iPhone, the network is working properly, they even accused me of damaging my iPhone and asked to to buy a new one! I would have to agree with the FCC on this subject. I wished Apple would be a little more open minded an drop the exclusivity BS and provided an iPad that is compatible with T-Mobile frequencies and possibly iPad versions that are compatible with sprint and verizon.

The problem is AT&T is Steve Jobs and Apples Bitch.

I hope Verizon and Sprint do not cave in to Apples and Steve Jobs demands, let AT&T struggle on, in the long run the loser will ultimately be AT&T.

 

[ibosie]

I have yet to find a public WiFi in London that's actually faster than the congested 3G networks. I don't think WiFi is ready to be saviour, it's already down and out.

 

[Rocketman]

I have yet to find a public WiFi in London that's actually faster than the congested 3G networks. I don't think WiFi is ready to be saviour, it's already down and out.

Remember when wifi came out as a "popular" thing? Peple were making antennas out of Pringles cans and saying they would be deployed "everywhere". You know what happened to that? The broadband suppliers saw those news releases too and changed their term of use contracts to not allow wireless sharing of broadband connections. Never mind you might at best get 4 slow speed wireless devices piggybacking on any one connection and that it would be a trivial differential. They felt more people would be compelled to open broadband account if there was no wireless sharing.

A very quick way to take pressure off 3G and later LTE systems would be to sell Pringles format antennas in every grocery store and have them license their installation attached to broadband connections.

It would still slow down at 5pm.

Rocketman

 

[danielspencer22]

why can't the FCC just create a brand new spectrum like 100000mhz?

 

[pdjudd]

why can't the FCC just create a brand new spectrum like 100000mhz?

It’s not that simple - one of the problems is that (aside from adoption) you have to make sure devices don’t get in the way with other frequencies and are not harmful to people.

The realty is that there is a limited spectrum available that we know is safe..

 

[MikhailT]

why can't the FCC just create a brand new spectrum like 100000mhz?

Because every frequency spectrum has a limit in how far it can penetrate through walls, air, humans, and so on? There's a reason 5Ghz WiFi-N has a very short range of operation compared to 2.4Ghz WiFi-N. There are safety issues as well as interference with other radio spectrum. All of those require years if not decades of research.

 

[pistolero]

How could the iPad set off reports of overburdened networks when it hasn't even been released yet?

No. the FCC is concerned that due to the release of the ipad, all other computers makers will start producing computers designed to have 3g as the default method to access the internet.

This will collapse ALL wireless network providers in the us unless networks are upgraded to be able to handle this traffic.

 

[EssentialParado]

I don't quite understand why people think this is a bad thing, and why some are even attacking the FCC — Did you guys stop reading after the first sentence and come to the conclusion the FCC are out to stop Apple or something? Their whole point was to speed up the discussion on a National WiMax network.

Jeez… most people would think this was a good thing.