I was invited to a Capitol Hill "event" (read: lunch) last Tuesday
to speak about community wireless and what BARWN is doing here.
The event was in support of Ms. Boxer's bill to get the FCC to open
up another 255MHz of spectrum for licensed-exempt radios. As the
FCC just came out with a NPRM (Docket# 03-110) to do just that, it
also was a pat on the back for folks to get to that point.
Here are my notes of the event...
Tim
--
Mixed bag but for the most part it did what it should have done.
Some of the session was designed as a self-congratulatory bit for
the movement in getting through the negotiations with NTIA to get
the 255MHz and the NPRM (03-110). Some of the session was to get
brownie points for Boxer. Most of it was a "WiFi 101" for the
Capitol Hill gang. I think that the presentations did that. The
common theme for almost all of the talks were last mile and rural
deployment (even though 03-110 won't help in that regard).
Things started off with Boxer doing a short speech thanking folks
for getting to the point of the NPRM.
James Johnston, who wrote the NAF paper "Breaking the Chains:
Unlicensed Spectrum as a Last-Mile Broadband Solution" with Jim
Snider gave a bit of background info and a introduction to the
differences between licensed and unlicensed wireless.
I then talked about the issues BARWN is trying to address (see
attached slides), how we are doing it and the problems we are
encountering with interference with part 15 users and other folks
(ie. Parts 25, 74, 97, 90, 101, etc.) and needing more spectrum at
lower frequencies to cover rural deployment. I also touched on the
fact that this NPRM (03-110) will not server rural deployment of
unlicensed wireless as the power is too restricted and there isn't
allowances for point to point links.
Marty Dougherty CEO, Roadstar Internet Services talked about deploying
an unlicensed wireless commercial service in rural Virgina. Even
though they are deploying in a rural area, they are getting 6 month
pay-back on the investment. Some biz plans seem to be working. :-)
Andy Demidont who is the Superintendent of Schools, Rockwood
Pennsylvania covered the need of getting a net connection in their
district and doing it with unlicensed wireless for less than half
the cost of wired line solutions and not having to cover the recurring
costs. Seems that their deployment is so successful they are turning
into a WISP for parents of the students.
Jeffrey Campbell from Cisco echoed the call for more spectrum and
"better" spectrum. Is concerned how the R&D is going to be covered
as in the early days of 802.11 it was paid by early adapters such
as corporations as there was a higher margin. How does R&D get
covered now? "This is an important technology and is needed for
the development of the economy."
Peter Pitsch of Intel covered why Intel loves WiFi...
1 - Centrino
2 - Investments in companies like Cometa
3 - Intel's work on spectrum policy.
Mr. Pitsch likes wireless as folks can innovate without having to
get permission from the government. This cuts down development time
and costs significantly.
He would like to see command and control move to "license flexible"
and licensed exempt.
David Furth of the FCC covered some of the background of unlicensed
wireless by stating it had its roots to the 80s. Even though they
didn't envision 802.11, they incubated the industry by opening these
bands up.
Mr. Furth is encouraging folks to comment on the 03-110 NPRM and
"Additional Spectrum for Unlicensed Devices Below 900 MHz and in
the 3 GHz Band" (OET Docket No. 02-380).
Jim Snider wrapped up the session with the points...
* What would the spectrum look like if we are shooting for 1 Gb/s
of pipe into each home?
* Need more low-power allocations. Smaller cells with more spectrum
reuse.
* More dynamic power levels and control.
* More unlicensed spectrum at lower frequencies.
Use the "white space" on the broadcast TV bands. They are seriously
under utilized.
* Higher power users should be seen as secondary users and lower
power users should be seen as primary. (I think ARRL may have a
different thought on this.)
Thats about it.
BTW... You can see the invite and mine and other presentations at:
http://www.newamerica.net/index.cfm?pg=event&EveID=283
Tim
--
Snail: Tim Pozar / LNS / 1978 45th Ave / San Francisco CA 94116 / USA
POTS: +1 415 665 3790 Radio: KC6GNJ / KAE6247
"Be who you are and say what you feel because the people who mind
don't matter and the people who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss
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