FCC Rules for Super Wi-Fi

Posted on Sep 24, 2010

Flickr / fccdotgov

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, facing camera, at a meeting in Washington earlier this year.

A bird? A plane? No, it’s super Wi-Fi! The FCC has finally approved a proposal to open the unused space between broadcast television channels—dubbed “white space”—for wide-radius high-speed wireless broadband ... or, in more campy terms, super Wi-Fi.

The decision ends a years-long debate between the government and telecom companies over the use of “white space.” —JCL

The New York Times:

The Federal Communications Commission approved a proposal on Thursday that would open vast amounts of unused broadcast television airwaves for high-speed wireless broadband networks and other unlicensed applications.

The change in available airwaves, which were freed up by the conversion of television signals from analog to digital, constitutes the first significant block of spectrum made available for unlicensed use by the F.C.C. in 20 years.

It was a victory that did not come easily, or quickly, however. The F.C.C. first approved a similar measure in 2008, but the technical requirements for unlicensed devices drew objections from 17 companies or groups on both sides of the issue, forcing the commission to redraft its proposal.

Read more

More Below the Ad

New and Improved Comments

We are launching a major overhaul of our comments section.

In addition to more robust spam filtering and moderation, new features include the ability to rate other comments, sort how they are displayed and respond directly via e-mail or in a thread.

Unfortunately, commenters will lose their existing Truthdig identities. It's a pain, we know, but on the plus side you will now be able to log in with a plethora of options, including Google, Twitter, Facebook and Disqus accounts.

Before launching this system we spent months in discussion with our top commenters. We listened to the feedback and we hope you like what we've come up with.

Please direct any problems or concerns to us via our contact page.