The Communicators: Wireless Devices & Broadband Speeds

[mickalene]

i think i don't understand exactly what this is about...they're talking about airpower and rules for why 'white'space?

[jackyates1]

how about a no late night infomercial space? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

[Occono]

Analog TV signals are good enough to carry the Internet? How slow would it be?

(I may be completely misunderstanding what they're talking about here)

[oldhacks]

fucking SPIES!!!

CENSORSHIP SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[videoaccess001]

It would be the largest-ever contiguous chunk of frequencies, also known as spectrum, doled out by the U.S. government for free public use. Combatants on both sides are out swinging.

Proponents include FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and an odd conglomeration of tech heavyweights that includes Google, Microsoft, Dell, Motorola, and Philips Electronics North America. The companies hope the freed-up spectrum will spur demand for wireless access and the equipment and advertising that would support it.

[videoaccess001]

The airwaves, due to be freed up when TV channels switch from analog to digital in February, could allow for the rapid proliferation of high-speed wireless services that some liken to wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi—itself made widely available by means of free spectrum. The first Wi-Fi devices became available at the beginning of the decade. Eight years later, sales of Wi-Fi gear and services add up to $10 billion a year, according to consulting firm ABI Research.

[videoaccess001]

A company like Google would gain from selling advertisements on Web sites that would be that much more accessible as a result of free or low-cost wireless Web access. Software and hardware makers stand to benefit from sales of the devices and other equipment needed to connect users to the wireless Web. "I'd think [white spaces] is a comparable-sized market," says Steve Sharkey, senior director of spectrum and regulatory policy at Motorola.

[BrownFoxBoutique]

This is not good

[7rightnow]

suck dick