FCC Says Go for 'Super Wi-Fi' – Wi-Fi on Steriods

[spentshells]

I meant to write kids

 

[Regulas]

I think it would be bad for any home network to broadcast that far. First there is no need to. As far as these cities that want city wide WiFi this will do the job.

 

[K-zon]

So like, Is regular Wi-Fi equipment going to work on these signals, cause even though it is nice that you can receive this signal from miles away. Like in my room to room use, knowing that the signals are going to be broadcast from one place to another, with an addition 5miles of radius around where it comes from, is kinda reassuring on something but then again. Its not quite the feature to look forward too.

I could understand on a private phone service or some local event of camera and video usages and the conveinces involved, but given so. Again, how many people are going to be up for such a thing? And how much of an equipment switch is involved and what is the lost in the gained features?

Can we reduce the signal say area to get increased speed instead? How about increased data streams in the house of increased area of coverage? How im i going to know the difference in terms of equipment and which does what? How much will the provider be in control of what kind of signals can be used and not?

 

[aaron92]

[citation][nom]liveonc[/nom]Need more lead in the paint used in our homes. Not long before walking outdoors will either give you Cancer or cook your microwave dinners for you. ;-)[/citation]

These aren't even harmful to the human body genius, and if they were guess what! We've been using them already.

 

[el_samky]

Wi-Fi city!!! jajaja that is real progress... thanks God!

 

[Guest]

Wi-Fi has not changed anything about "how we compute on laptops." It has changed how and where we connect to the internet.

 

[dEAne]

This is great news.

 

[Supertrek32]

This is definitely awesome...

But I'm not entirely sure I want my data traveling hundreds of yards, encrypted or not...

 

[husker]

There were only a handful of t.v. stations using this spectrum in each geographical market. If this spectrum were opened up to the general public for their home networks, then there would be tens of thousands of overlapping individual networks using that same spectrum in the same geographical area. There will have to be some type of encryption or other technology to prevent some serious crossover or other interference problems.

 

[liveonc]

[citation][nom]aaron92[/nom]These aren't even harmful to the human body genius, and if they were guess what! We've been using them already.[/citation]

Guess what Mr. Genius, my home alone can't keep a signal as it is already, neither bluetooth, 3G, or other wireless signals without it dropping suddenly or gradually. But please do enjoy! ;-)

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]Mathos[/nom]Actually It wouldn't be that bad... Have you ever used CB Radios? Those usually work well with a 3 foot whip antenna and have a range of close to 20 or 30 miles while in a moving vehicle. Plus obviously they don't require huge amounts of power output to work. Not to mention on a cloudy day with a lot of "skip" (bouncing signal off clouds) the range can go up to 200 miles. Note though that the freq's involved there are in the kHz range though.[/citation]
yeah, carrying a voice is a bit easier than 20Mbps broadband

 

[nebun]

wait...after some consideration FCC decided to change their minds...super WiFi causes cancer...lol

 

[RabidFace]

Ok, both my comments got cut off, and think it's because I used the "less-than" sign in my comment.

It was only a matter of time before we could access out OWN network less-than 10 miles away from out house. Maybe more.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

Hell yes I'll scan my whole city to see who has their network open. LOL

Really, I see an issue with this. You're on your laptop, looking for a wireless connection. Then what do you see? Oh, about 200 to choose from! That might take a bit of sorting.

 

[Aneesh@4GHz]

Cool!

 

[x3style]

Great, nice to see they caught up with the rest of the world.

Okay so why not just use one of these for 200miles / 320km upto 108 Mbps connections ?

LOL been there done that. Normal in Africa now arrived in USA via FCC finally.

http://www.netkrom.com/prod_multi- [...] radio.html
Quote : * Multiple unlicensed and licensed bands from 180MHz to 6.1GHz (Choose the Frequency You Need!)
* Data transfer rate up to 108 Mbps
* Work as Base Station, HotSpot AP, Mesh AP, Wireless Client, Backhaul and Repeater
* High power modules up to 1 Watt for long distance links up to 200 miles or 320 Km.
* Long distance parameters and output power regulation
* High CPU power for high-speed connection
* Perfect design and characteristics for industrial outdoor use (waterproof)
* Complete compatibility with any IEEE network and WiMAX
* Advanced network functions (IP Routing, Firewall, DHCP, NAT, Bandwidth Management, QoS, etc)
* Advanced security features WEP (64,128 bit), WPA1 & WPA2, AES.
* Free NETKROM NMS - Network Management System
* Carrier class radio for extreme environment -60 to 230C
* Robust and Efficient MAC Layer
* High packets per Second Performance
* High TX Power and RX Sensitivity

I don't know if you ever worked with a wireless device those specs you posted are for high range point to point antenna, the problem here was about omnidirectional antenna like your wireless router that transmits 360 degrees in all 3 dimensions. Point to point antenna range of 320km is nothing new. Omnidirectional antenna of 320km would be the stuff of the future soon although the wi-fi communication is not like radio broadcast it also requires the clients to be able to send back trough that range in order for two-sided communication to occur.

 

[hoofhearted]

OK, while this is good new indeed. I believe all the technical issues (SSID broadcast, security, etc) will have solutions manifest over time. The one that worries me: cuts into the cellphone companies recurring-fee aircard business. While I see us being able to purchase standalone swifi equipment, drive down to our local startbucks and get on our own network without paying, where are these hotspot and aircard businesses going to try to make their money.

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]x3style[/nom]I don't know if you ever worked with a wireless device those specs you posted are for high range point to point antenna, the problem here was about omnidirectional antenna like your wireless router that transmits 360 degrees in all 3 dimensions. Point to point antenna range of 320km is nothing new. Omnidirectional antenna of 320km would be the stuff of the future soon although the wi-fi communication is not like radio broadcast it also requires the clients to be able to send back trough that range in order for two-sided communication to occur.[/citation]
If the equipment costs more than $100 most people wont do it.

 

[korsen]

The problem I'm thinking about is when someone makes a little RFID style reader that just reaches into your house from alot further away than is currently noticeable and gets access to all your stuff.

This was seen with Ford (possible others) car keys for RFID tags inside the key as an identifier. Cars were then being stolen. Yes, you had to be considerably close by for this to work, but that's for those keys, you have to be out on the street to access people's wi-fi, so what's next hmm? How far away do you think people will be able to reach into our houses next with this one? I'll stick to my 2.4/5GHz access thank you very much.

 

[cookoy]

faster and further - very good indeed. excellent if costs would be lower too.

 

[hixbot]

VHF to the rescue. To reach those ranges, power would need to be pretty high. Also lets not forget range is limited by horizon. VHF won't travel through the earth. In order to increase the distane to the horizon, tall towers are needed. Home routers won't have the luxury of towers and high power. Still, range will be greatly improved.

 

[Guest]

woohoo! I can finally get really good range and speed over wifi!!

 

[husker]

You will NOT see this for home users. This is a potential moneymaker for government. Licenses to use this spectrum will be sold to organizations with the capability to build or lease large towers with the power needed to broadcast the signal over a large area. These businesses will then sell a service to the home user, much like cell phone service is now, or just use it for their own internal network. In order to use this spectrum to its potential would require way more equipment and money than a normal person could afford, not to mention the government red tape.

 

[wade2]

I think the big application here is outdoor wi-fi (versus wi-fi being primarily an indoor technology). That said, I can see it being really successful with people carrying handheld smart-phones for convenient, on-the-go access. I'm also thinking voice-over-ip companies may finally be in a position to compete with cellular companies.

- Wade
www.engagehotspots.com - Prepaid wifi card hotspot billing system

 

[rocky1234]

Even though this is all cool & all I have to agree with Husker here I really do not think we will ever see this in our homes. It would be great but it is just not gonna happen for us this is a money maker for the gov.

Also you forgot about 802.11a it came out the same time a 802.11b but was faster it worked on 5GHz band. Even though it was faster than b it had less distance because when used indoors your walls were able to block it's signal more so than b which was on 2.4GHz band.