Gizmodo: white space

FCC Approves Plan for White Space Broadband

Adrian Covert — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:54:25 EST

FCC officials approved a plan for white space wireless broadband in a vote today. For those unfamiliar, white space broadband would take the unused parts of the television broadcast spectrum and make it available for internet data transfer. What we know so far is that the FCC will allow broadband usage of the white space following the February analog to digital TV changeover and the plans appear to be significant. Kevin Adelstein, a member of the voting committee said "White spaces are the blank pages on which we which we will write our broadband future." However, there are still obstacles to overcome.

The FCC must avoid a lawsuit from the National Association of Broadcasters, who could file a lawsuit to freeze plans. They worry that the use of white space could cause interference issues. But if they can sidestep that issue, this will be a boost for companies like Microsoft and Google, who want to provide internet for use in free programs and those in rural, hard-to-reach areas. [Yahoo]

Google Wants to Use White Spaces for Mobile Broadband

matt buchanan — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:40:51 EDT

Google confirmed in a letter to the FCC today that it's moving forward on plans to use white spaces—unused slivers of TV spectrum suitable for high-speed wireless—for mobile broadband services. It's been doing its own testing of gear, and they're "willing to provide, at no cost to third parties, the technical support necessary to make these plans happen."

Brilliant: Let Verizon pay beaucoup bucks for the 700MHz band that Google has free reign on thanks to open access, all while developing its own wireless broadband stuff to get in on this "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband access to all Americans" that has the speed potential of gigabits per second. With airwaves it hasn't paid a dime for. Update: Silicon Alley Insider has some excellent in-depth coverage of the conference call. [WSJ, Image via Flickr]

Google Event Monday About White Spaces: Google Wi-Fi in the Works?

matt buchanan — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 12:30:57 EDT

Google, along with Microsoft, Dell, Intel, HP and Philips are pretty hot on devices that use white spaces—unused little blocks of the TV spectrum band that are prem-o for high-speed wireless. Billy G, for instance, wants to use it to make Wi-Fi even awesomer. So Google's announcement they're holding a press conference at 11:30 AM on Monday to talk about a white spaces filing with the FCC definitely has our eyebrow in a perked arch. They didn't play to win the 700MHz auction, so what exactly do they wanna do with this little slab of wireless goodness? [CNET, Image via Flickr]

Bill Gates Says White Space Is for Free Wi-Fi; Broadcasters Want License and Regulation

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Referring to Microsoft's desire to use soon-to-be-opened broadcasting bandwidth for low-powered unlicensed wireless devices, Bill Gates argued that it will make for improved Wi-Fi, a term he appears to be using as simply non-regulated, subscription-free wireless. He said:

"We're hopeful that that will be made available so that Wi-Fi can explode in terms of its usage, even out into some of these less dense areas where distance has been a big problem for Wi-Fi."

Bill's opponents see this not as an opportunity for more Wi-Fi but as a chance to widen costlier, regulated wireless subscription services.

Microsoft along with Google, Dell, HP, Intel and Philips, have been lobbying the FCC to permit white-space devices, which they have been continuously submitting for testing. Broadcasters and others fear static and other kinds of interference.

Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters, argues for the regulated model:

"Broadband penetration could be drastically improved through a fixed, licensed service without interference to TV reception. Unfortunately, Microsoft continues to push for an unlicensed technology that simply does not work...TV viewers should not be inundated by the inevitable interference caused by such faulty devices."

Spoken, I must say, like someone who has no faith that these problems can be solved through technology.

Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, Craig Mundie, addressed the situation in a more desperate tone:

White space activity today is sort of our last hope to get some good spectrum.

You hear that, Obi Kevin-Martin-obi? [Reuters]

Verizon's In a Pissy Mood This Week; Mad at FCC and Bob Marley's Family

Matt Buchanan — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 02:30:18 EDT

First, they're peeing on the FCC's auction rules for the 700mhz spectrum that Google and others want a chunk of to do potentially cool stuff with. They're suing to overturn the open-access rules that would force buyers of certain slices of the spectrum to allow any safe device to use it. For an encore, after pulling Bob Marley tracks his family objected to Verizon selling, "in light of" the family's statement that it's "disturbing that these companies refuse to give the musicians the respect they deserve," Verizon's promptly restoring all of the content tomorrow. Rowr. [NYT, NYT, Flickr]

The FCC auction of the soon-to-be-vacated...

Matt Buchanan — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 13:15:50 EDT

The FCC auction of the soon-to-be-vacated analog TV spectrum that everyone wants a chunk of will go down Jan. 16, 2008. [Broadband Reports]

Microsoft's not taking the FCC smackdown...

Matt Buchanan — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:44:27 EDT

Microsoft's not taking the FCC smackdown over its "white space" prototype lying down: They're disputing the FCC's findings, though they totally admit the first prototype was defective. But the new model worked last week! Really! [Yahoo!/Reutuers]

Microsoft Google Dell Coalition "White Space" Prototypes Get Knocked By FCC: Device Gallery and Details

Wilson Rothman — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 10:23:33 EDT

When Dell, Earthlink, Google, HP, Intel, Microsoft and Philips got together to create a prototype "white space" device—that is, a box capable of two-way high-bandwidth wireless communication in the frequencies now occupied by analog TV signal—you would have thought the combined muscle would ensure success. But the White Spaces Coalition has failed its first test with the FCC, with two prototypes that don't seem to know ~~their ass~~ an occupied channel from ~~their elbow~~ an empty one.

Two different prototypes were submitted for the test, both from the Coalition. (I'm going to go out on a limb and say that, judging from the gallery below, Dell had more sway than HP.) The testing didn't focus so much on how well the devices could transmit and receive broadband signal, although Prototype A could do both. The real focus was how well they could "listen" before they "spoke."

The danger is that licensed high-powered devices and unlicensed low-powered devices operating on a crowded frequency band need to know how to be polite and share the space. Prototype A, the more complete package, was pretty miserable at this, failing to recognize active NTSC signal 20% of the time, and strong digital TV signal over half the time. Even when there was no signal present, 15% of the time Prototype A said that there was.

Prototype B, the slimmer box shown below, had an updated receiver but could not transmit. It was able to score a little higher on the tests but also failed. The other test was to determine interference with wireless microphones that use the same frequency band. The FCC determined that both prototypes failed this as well. Prototype A was "generally unable to sense wireless microphones," Prototype B's performance was "mixed."

The Coalition isn't exactly throwing in the towel, according to the UPI:

The White Spaces Coalition said in a statement it was encouraged "that FCC engineers did not find fault with our operating parameters and remain confident unlicensed television spectrum can be used without interference."

For a PDF of the testing details with all the charts and graphs you can eat, click here.