ZDNet Government

David Gewirtz
Home / News & Blogs / ZDNet Government

FCC may set aside free wireless spectrum for Internet broadband

By Doug Hanchard | March 9, 2010, 10:27am PST

Summary

FCC may look at some wireless spectrum being set aside for at little or no cost for anyone’s use.

Topics

FCC, Frequency, Internet, Broadband, Spectrum, Wireless, Current Spectrum License, Broadband Internet, Network Technology, Federal Government, Wi-Fi, Telecommunications, Wireless And Mobility, Networking, Government, Doug Hanchard

Blogger Info

David Gewirtz

Biography

David Gewirtz

David Gewirtz
As a child, David Gewirtz discovered he was a geek sometime during the middle of the Johnson administration. He is the author of How To Save Jobs: Reinventing Business, Reinvigorating Work, and Reawakening the American Dream and Where Have All The Emails Gone? How Something as Seemingly Benign as White House Email Can Have Freaky National Security Consequences.

He is the executive director of the U.S. Strategic Perspective Institute, founder of the ZATZ technical magazines, a CNN contributor, and the cyberterrorism advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals.

Vendor HotSpot
Here to help you with your Document Management Needs

Read the DocuMentor blog now

Learn More »

Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn during a speech at the Digital Inclusion Summit suggested that the FCC may look at some wireless spectrum being set aside for at little or no cost for anyone’s use.

The staff has come up with a number of recommendations with these goals in mind. To help with cost, the Plan recommends expanding low income Universal Service support to broadband, and exploring using spectrum for a free or very low cost wireless service. Partnerships between the public, private, non-profit and philanthropic sectors can help address the relevance barrier by encouraging comprehensive solutions that combine hardware, service, training and content, and by conducting outreach and awareness campaigns that target underserved communities. Continuing federal support for state and local broadband initiatives is also essential.

Current spectrum licenses are auctioned to carriers and service providers. Industry, scientific and medical frequencies are not licensed. The following frequencies in this category are listed below and are generally accepted worldwide with some exceptions. The International Telecommunications Union - Radio (ITU-R) ratified these frequencies over the past 10 years. Most of you use devices that are enabled using 2.4 and 5.4 GHz in WIFI and WIMAX technologies.

The ISM bands defined by the ITU-R are:

Frequency range [Hz]

Center frequency [Hz]

Availability
6.765-6.795 MHz 6.780 MHz Subject to local acceptance
13.553-13.567 MHz 13.560 MHz
26.957-27.283 MHz 27.120 MHz
40.66-40.70 MHz 40.68 MHz
433.05-434.79 MHz 433.92 MHz
902-928 MHz 915 MHz Region 2 only
2.400-2.500 GHz 2.450 GHz
5.725-5.875 GHz 5.800 GHz
24-24.25 GHz 24.125 GHz
61-61.5 GHz 61.25 GHz Subject to local acceptance
122-123 GHz 122.5 GHz Subject to local acceptance
244-246 GHz 245 GHz Subject to local acceptance

Additional Resources:

FCC’s National Broadband Plan: Net Neutrality, R.I.P.

FCC releases ‘Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan’

FCC, Comcast, others testify before Congress: NBC Universal-Comcast merger

Net Neutrality: Why the Internet will never be free. For anything. So get used to it

AT&T to FCC: Open to Net Neutrality ideas - with conditions

Net Neutrality: You own the Internet - make sure it becomes Law

Internet: A threat to government or the other way around?

Electronic Frontier Foundation links net neutrality to copyright

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

Disclosure

Doug Hanchard

http://government.zdnet.com/?page_id=5774

Biography

Doug Hanchard

Doug is the principal of Rapid Response Consulting, an advisory group that integrates ICT solutions. He has worked at some of the largest telecommunications firms in Canada, including Bell Canada, Telus and AT&T and is a guest lecturer for several universities and associations. He serves on several advisory boards in Canada and the United States.

Starting with a new national ISP in 1993 in sales, positioning internet access, web sites and network services began the path of telecommunications technologies from the early Bulletin Board Services (BBS) to the first web pages for commercial clients.

Became the National Data Network Service Manager for Frame Relay and Internet access for AccTel Enterprises which was acquired (after 3 mergers already) by AT&T Canada. Interested in how marketing could expand service availability, he moved to Telus to become the Frame Relay / ATM Product Manager and expanded the network across Canada. In 2002 he went to Bell Canada becoming a Solution Architect to get back to his passion for technology working with enterprise clients. In 2006, became the Director of R&D and Senior Solution Architect for Bell Canada Security Solutions Inc, developing I.P. based physical and logical security platforms and ICT services.

This position created new commercial concepts such as Crisis and Disaster technology solutions required for emergency use after an event occurred. He designed interoperable technologies and application combinations allowing any to any I.P. service through landline, broadband, satellite and wireless technologies to be deployed anywhere

More from “ZDNet Government”

Related Discussions on TechRepublic

Did you know you can take part in these discussions with your ZDNet membership?
Ask a Question Start a Discussion

Talkback - Tell Us What You Think

advertisement

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity

Blog Roll

Blog Archive

White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources
advertisement