Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) UHF

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.)