Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) UHF

A Deep Look Behind The Scenes At Whitespace Standards Development

The most surprising aspect of a recent story relating to Television Broadcast Whitespace (Television Broadcasting Incumbents Launch Pre-emptive Advertising Strike Against Portable Whitespace Devices) was that Television Broadcasters appear to be supportive of license-exempt Whitespace communications:

We also believe that there are ways to utilize spectrum through fixed systems that can offer the advantages of broadband to rural consumers without threatening viewers who rely on over-the-air television. - Excerpt from a letter by National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and Association For Maximum Service Television (MSTV) to FCC Chairman Martin.

At most, I expected grudging acceptance by television broadcasters of the concept of License-exempt Television Broadcast Whitespace communications, with minimal cooperation. But, from the posting below, that actually isn't the case. But I was still hardpressed to believe "active" cooperation regarding Television Broadcast Whitespace until I had  seen television broadcast organizations state that they "embrace" such a concept, in documents that are on official record. So, the posting below assumes new relevance, and explains that, with 802.22, not just why television broadcasters "aren't afraid" of License-exempt Television Broadcast Whitespace communications... but perhaps more importantly, how such communications will work and not interfere with continuing television broadcasting.

(Click below to continue the story.)

Television Broadcasting Incumbents Launch Pre-emptive Advertising Against Portable Whitespace Devices

A number of news sources report that the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Association for Maximum Service Television (MSTV) have begun print advertisements and television commercials in the Washington DC metropolitan area that rail against the potential use of vacant television broadcast channels by portable license-exempt devices. Reportedly, the television advertisements feature a classic scaremongering technique - displaying a simulation of potential impaired television reception of a television broadcast of a (Washington Redskins) football game because of interference from a license-exempt whitespace communications device.

Apparently the advertisements are merely the opening salvo of a much bigger campaign. A well-respected "Communications industry insider's publication" reports that the advertising blitz begins "an all-out fight", to be followed by an extensive and well-financed in-person lobbying campaign from television broadcasting interests such Disney (owners of the ABC television network), General Electric (owners of the NBC television network), several pro sports leagues, and other small television broadcasting groups. The goal of the "pressing the flesh" campaign with lawmakers and FCC regulators is to cajole against the possibility of portable license-exempt whitespaces devices. Interestingly (for two organizations ostensibly dedicated to the propagation of news and information), no mention whatsoever of this campaign was found in a scan of the Press Releases sections of both organizations.

(Click below to continue the story.)

Readers Write - 700 MHz PCMCIA Cards?

Chris K. writes:

Hi Steve,

I found your article on the release of a wimax laptop card on www.bwianews.com and I've also read articles that claim that Clearwire and other entities are looking at the next 700 MHz auction as a way to improve the WiMAX mobile play.  Are you aware of any PCMCIA radios that currently work in the 700MHz band? The company I work for has ownership of the C block of the lower 700MHz band.  Any help you can offer would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Chris K.

Chris:

There's barely any Customer Premise Equipment at all for 700 MHz, and there usually has to be considerable maturity of a band / radio service to achieve the economies of scale necessary for compact,
low-power chipsets that are required for building PCMCIA cards.

I wouldn't expect to see PCMCIA cards for 700 MHz for at least two, perhaps three years. The economies of scale won't even begin until long after the 700 MHz band is finally unencumbered after 2/17/2009.

I'd be VERY surprised if Clearwire was seriously interested in 700 MHz; 1) anything deployed on 700 MHz wouldn't be able to interoperate with their Sprint WiMAX partnership using 2.5 GHz, and 2) they have
more 2.5 GHz spectrum and service areas right now to deploy than they have capital, manpower, or time available.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged.)

The Date Analog Television Goes Dead - February 17, 2009

The last day that NTSC (officially - National Television Standards Committee; unofficially - Never The Same Color) analog television will be broadcast in the USA is February 17, 2009.

After that date, to receive over-the-air television broadcasting in the US, for those approximately 10% of overall US television viewers receive their video signals over the air (rather than cable or direct broadcast satellite):

• Will require the use of a digital television broadcast television receiver or a digital television broadcast adapter
• No longer be able to receive television channels 52-69; all television transmitters operating in that spectrum are required to cease transmission (or be "re-channeled" to a new channel in the range of channel 2-51; but it's very, very unlikely for a reassignment to be within "VHF" channels 2-13).

Although the FCC is requiring labeling of television receivers being currently sold to disclose whether or not they are "DTV Ready", it's going to be a very acrid conversion as the date approaches when all of those tens of millions televisions will suddenly stop working. The DTV transition will probably be the most wrenching transition to US consumers since  AT&T was broken up.

The relevance to Broadband Wireless Internet Access is, of course, that on February 18, 2009, the 108 MHz of spectrum from 698 MHz to 806 MHz (as of that date, former television Channels 52-69) will be fully available and fully unencumbered to be used for a mixture of commercial and public safety communications.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged.)

About Broadband Wireless Internet Access UHF Blog

Why a blog specific to Broadband Wireless Internet Access in the UHF portion of spectrum (somewhat my personal classification - spectrum used for Broadband Wireless Internet Access that's below 1 GHz)?

Answer - because I think dedicated coverage of BWIA operating in UHF is needed. Until the recent political furors about the "fate" of the 700 MHz band about to be auctioned by end-of-year 2007, there was virtually no coverage of "1 GHz and below" relating to BWIA. And I predict there won't be once again after the 700 MHz auction furor dies down. The perception is that's where "legacy" wireless systems live, like two-way radio, terrestrial television broadcasting, etc. It's simply not (perceived as) a "sexy" portion of the spectrum (as far as the wireless industry is concerned).

Yet...

• Television Whitespace - the ability to operate license-exempt communications systems in currently-vacant television broadcast channels, if enacted, could radically reshape Broadband Wireless Internet Access.
• The wireless telephony (cellular) industry uses their (legacy, formerly analog) 800 MHz spectrum heavily, especially in rural areas, and has retrofitted its 800 MHz systems to provide Broadband Wireless Internet Access.
• 700 MHz may... or may not... become a major area of growth in the wireless industry. It depends greatly on who wins the 700 MHz auctions. If wireless industry incumbents win, 700 MHz will be put on the slow track for development and deployment. If some industry upstarts win, 700 MHz may still be doomed to mere spectrum squatting hoping for a buyout - we've seen that scenario with the previous 700 MHz auctions.
• 902-928 MHz - This is the most under-appreciated license-exempt band. 902-928 MHz has amazing performance compared to 2.4 GHz, and is really appreciated by those in the wireless industry "in the know". There are some severe threats to license-exempt operation by those holding "licenses" to operate in 902-928 MHz.
• Etc.

The point is, there are a lot of interesting stories to be told about BWIA in UHF, and thus I think more than ample justification for a dedicated blog.

One publishing note - I have a lot of articles queued up for BWIA UHF, but they're topical enough that it makes more sense to publish them "on a date" when the subject was topical. So, look for some articles to appear that are backdated, at least through mid-August, when I should be caught up with the backlog.

Enjoy! And please give me some feedback about BWIA UHF - steve (at) stevestroh (dot) net.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh

700 MHz - The Other View (My Posting To WISPA Mailing List)

Below is a posting I made to the public WISPA Mailing List.

Note that I'm not posting the message I'm responding to as I don't own those words and don't have permission to repost, but the entire exchange is available at mail.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/2007-July/027980.html.

[WISPA] 700 MHz - The Other View
Steve Stroh steve at stevestroh.net
Mon Jul 9 10:55:04 CDT 2007

Scriv:

I disagree your statement that "If they use [700 MHz] to sell broadband wireless Internet then by definition those parties will then become WISPs." I doubt that Verizon Communications (landlines) and  Verizon Wireless would consider themselves WISPs merely by acquiring more spectrum - any more than they do now considering that they both own considerable amounts of spectrum and both already offer Broadband Wireless Internet Access. Do you consider Sprint / Nextel a WISP (they're doing Broadband Wireless in 2.5 GHz)? Is AT&T a WISP (they're doing BW in 2.3 GHz)? How about Clearwire? No... there's a very clear stratification between WISPs and other players that isn't bridged by the common use of Broadband Wireless Internet Access, or use of a particular portion of spectrum.

(Click below to continue the story.)

Coalition To Submit Whitespace Prototype To FCC

I posted an interesting story about on BWIA Stories how Google, Microsoft and other technology companies are about to submit to the FCC for their review a Broadband Wireless Internet Access device that makes use of television broadcast spectrum, but designed not to interfere with television broadcasting (License-exempt Television Broadcasting Whitespace).

Now that this coalition is becoming more open by submitting data to the FCC, I will be digging deeper about that coalition and reporting what I find here.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh