We don’t know about you, but we’re through with normal Wi-Fi. We’re ready for something better--something more powerful than a locomotive, something able to leap tall building in a single bound. Well, you know what we mean--something super. Thankfully, the FCC has our backs. In what could become a landmark decision for the tech industry, the
FCC ruled today to open up a vacant portion of the spectrum between television broadcast stations, utilizing the white space for “super Wi-Fi.”
Wi-Fi operating on the newly-opened spectrum will offer superior range and object-penetration. The FCC calls the unlicensed band Wi-Fi currently operates on the “junk band,” and look how far that’s taken us--the new “white space” portion of the spectrum is some primo stuff, by comparison.
Google has chimed in,
applauding the FCC for finally approving the white space--Google’s been a big proponent of what it calls "Wi-Fi on steroids" for
years now. While it may be two or three years until Super Wi-Fi devices start populating the consumer market, companies like Microsoft are already hard at work on technology utilizing the new spectrum.
Your existing router isn't obsolete yet.
There is one concern about transmitting broadband signals over the new white space: it can occasionally interfere with wireless microphones and produce some ghastly feedback. A
research team at Microsoft seems to have the issue covered, though: they’ve developed a system that detects a wireless microphone signal and smoothly switches the wireless Internet off that channel. They’re also working on a more complex system that will allow both signals to occupy the same channel with no interference. As part of today’s decision, the FCC set aside part of the UHF spectrum for wireless mics and a few other devices--hopefully clashing signals will soon be a problem of the past.
Microsoft’s experiments have also shown that two access points are enough to spread the super Wi-Fi across their entire campus. The FCC’s ruling will no doubt help tech companies blanket entire cities with high-speed broadband access, and there’s huge money to be made in an entirely new line of super Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
Can you see yourself ditching 3G service to live off super Wi-Fi hotspots? Looking forward to a new router that reaches from upstairs to the basement to the front yard? Let us know!
