Here's version number 2:
Odessa Office Equipment is one of the nations first WISP operators. We
started our ISP in the spring of 1997 and installed our first wireless
system in the winter of 1999/2000. We now cover parts of 4 counties in
eastern Washington state. The bulk of our coverage is in western Lincoln
and eastern Grant counties. Lincoln county has approximately 10,000
citizens with Grant county coming in at about 40,000. These are also some
of the geographically largest counties in the state. We have roughly 6000
square miles of coverage serviced by about 30 transmit sites, most with
multiple access points.
Due to the low power restrictions in the 5.3 and 5.4 GHz bands we are not
able to use those bands to service customers in any meaningful fashion.
Almost all of our network has been built using WiFi based devices at 2.4
GHz. This has been mainly due to cost and range considerations. However,
as you know the tragedy of the commons has created a huge problem in the 2.4
GHz band. When I first started operations there were a large number of cell
phone and public safety backhaul systems in place. Mainly using Western
Multiplex (or the older Glenair (sp?) gear) always on systems that typically
used all or most of the band per link. Naturally most of those systems were
also located on the higher ground that we also needed to use.
Over the years we have gotten quite good at using coverage zone, antenna
polarity, and power level tuning to allow us to operate in that environment.
But now, most of those systems have been replaced with licensed point to
point links. In their place we see a HUGE number of unlicensed devices. In
my home town of Odessa a brief scan (about 60 seconds) for WiFI access
points done by only one of my AP's shows that it detects around 80 other
AP's. This may not seem like many, but please remember that Odessa is in a
bowl, nothing is being detected from out of town and there are less than
1000 people living here! In Ephrata, that same test, done from a distance
of about one mile and with a 45* sector netted 99 AP's in a one minute scan!
We are also seeing a significant problem with system to system interference.
Or, self inflicted interference. Due to practical client per AP limitations
and interference rejection we often have more than one AP per site. For
more info on this problem and how we try to deal with it please see:
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3756431
As you can see, a better standard in an outdoor friendly band is desperately
needed if we are to meet the next decade's needs in the broadband industry.
As the only viable 3rd rail of broadband the FCC should insure that WISPs
can continue to service rural un or under served markets as well as force
competition in more dense markets.
By and large I agree with WISPA's stance on Whitespaces. A licensed lite
approach brings several self evident advantages to the table. I fully
support the concept. Knowing that almost all WISPs are self funded and
often self staffed it's important that care be taken to insure that any
licensing mechanism is inexpensive in both dollars and time.
This may also be a good time to tie the right to use spectrum to the
existing reporting requirements. I disagree that the government has any
business requiring compliance with the form 477. It's more important that
coverage zones be tracked than customer bases. And if the government wishes
to know such information they should spend the time and money to gather the
data, not pass those expenses onto us. However, I can see a case being made
that only those that follow the rules and file their 477's should have
access to any possible new bands. I'm not advocating for or against this
stance, just tossing out the idea for consideration.
I also agree with WISPA, fiber tower and others, that much higher power
levels are needed today in much of the country. If there are trees in the
area it takes power to penetrate them at meaningful distances. In open
ground long distances are needed (30 to 40 mile cell sizes should be a
viable option). In my area we have rolling hills, tree lines as windbreaks
and line of site in the 50 to 60 mile range. 30 to 40 mile line of site is
commonplace. We have to reach out a LONG way and be able to plow through
the windbreaks (sometimes several). We also have to have sufficient
capacity on those long range networks to use them as feeds to repeaters as
we shoot down the canyons in our area.
Personally, I'd like to see extremely rural areas allowed to use even more
than 20 watts of transmit power at the radio. I'd like to see a scale,
something like 200 miles from a top 50 MSO, 40 watts. Less than 200 miles
20 watts. Maybe 10 or 20 miles would be 10 watts or less.
I'd also like to see a geolocation and/or sensing mechanism put in place
under the rules. Set reasonably high standards of protection
