Jack,
I have to agree about setting the bar too high, especially if one is dealing with issues such as LOS issues. It will be interesting to see the WISPA comments. Thanks. Victoria From: Jack Unger [mailto:jun...@ask-wi.com] Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 11:15 AM To: li...@stlbroadband.com; WISPA General List Cc: WISPA's FCC Committee Subject: Re: [WISPA] FCC Says Fixed Wireless Only Delivers 1 Mbps Hi Victoria, The FCC Workship "1 Mbps" statement is very, very generalized. It's nothing to get upset about. If we want the FCC to update their knowledge about WISPs then we need to educate the FCC. We DO educate them with every FCC filing and presentation that we make. In the last year, we've made about a dozen written filings plus an in-person presentations to four of the five previous FCC Commissioners and to the FCC OET staff. Keep in mind that everything we write or present becomes a part of the public record. WISPA's FCC Committee is working on writing and filing FCC Comments right now, at this very moment. This filing is in response to an FCC "Notice of Inquiry" (NOI) about "advanced telecommunications services" and "broadband". The NOI asks whether broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion. The NOI asks five "core questions". (1) How should we define "advanced telecommunications capability" or "broadband?" (NOTE: The FCC is asking about "speed" here) (2) Is broadband available to all Americans? (3) Is the current level of broadband deployment reasonable and timely? (4) What actions, if any, should the Commission take to accelerate broadband deployment? (5) What actions should the Commission take to improve its regular broadband data collection efforts? We've got to be a little careful about how we ask the FCC to define broadband because: 1. If we set the bar too high, for example by saying that "broadband" is 5 Mbps or more then we risk excluding WISPs who do not provide at least 5 Mbps. They may not be eligible for funding or may not even be considered legitimate WISPs. 2. Some WISPs do not understand the difference between "raw" data rate and actual throughput and we don't want one WISP's lack of understanding to distort the FCC's definitions of "broadband". 3. Some WISPs do not understand that throughput is shared between all of the active customers on an AP at any given moment. Even if an AP is capable of delivering 10 Mbps of actual throughput, when 30 customers are active then less than 333k (10 Meg divided by 30) is available to each customer, sometimes far less. We don't want to let the fact that available throughput per customer is usually less than the maximum single-customer throughput to distort the FCC's definition of "broadband". In conclusion, I think it's better to let the FCC set the broadband "bar" a little low so we have a chance to demonstrate that we can sometimes exceed it rather than let some WISP who is bragging about speeds that he may or may actually be able to deliver cause the FCC to set the broadband "bar" too high so that the FCC writes unrealistic regulations (or the NITA and RUS originate unrealistic grant programs) that either ignore or exclude the needs of the majority of WISPs. Jack Unger Chair - WISPA FCC Committee St. Louis Broadband wrote: They are not getting it from my form 477. The only 1 Mbps service we offer is upload and that is with a 5 Mbps download. Victoria -----Original Message----- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Jason Hensley Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 10:01 AM To: 'WISPA General List' Subject: Re: [WISPA] FCC Says Fixed Wireless Only Delivers 1 Mbps Hmm, so I guess my 10Mbps down and 8mbps up wireless links (yes, to customers) don't count???? My guess, though, is that they're pulling this data from the 477 and making assumptions based on that. Most of our customers are 1.5Mbps or less customers so looking at the "raw" 477 data then yes, it would appear that we may not be doing much more than the 1.5meg. Interesting... -----Original Message----- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Lists Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 7:54 AM To: 'WISPA General List' Subject: [WISPA] FCC Says Fixed Wireless Only Delivers 1 Mbps This really ticks me off: "Wireless broadband Internet access services offered over fixed networks allow consumers to access the Internet from a fixed point while stationary and often require a direct line-of-sight between the wireless transmitter and receiver. These services have been offered using both licensed spectrum and unlicensed devices. For example, thousands of small Wireless Internet Services Providers (WISPs) provide such wireless broadband at speeds of around one Mbps using unlicensed devices, often in rural areas not served by cable or wireline broadband networks." http://www.broadband.gov/broadband_types.html I talked to them at the NTIA workshop in Memphis about this, but they are still defaming our industry. I have emailed them at the broadband.gov site and think it is a good idea that they hear from more of us. Thanks! Victoria Proffer - President/CEO StLouisBroadband.com <http://stlbroadband.com/> <http://stlbroadband.com/> <http://showmebroadband.com/> <http://showmebroadband.com/> ShowMeBroadband.com Rural Missouri Wireless Project. 314.974.5600 * Fax 573.747.4756 Follow us on Twitter.com @stlbroadband SBA Certified WOSB STLBBLogo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- Jack Unger - President, Ask-Wi.Com, Inc. Author - "Deploying License-Free Wireless WANs" Serving the Broadband Wireless Industry Since 1993 www.ask-wi.com 818-227-4220 jun...@ask-wi.com Public Profile <http://www.linkedin.com/in/jackunger> <http://www.linkedin.com/in/jackunger> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
