By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com
November 6, 2008
A day after the Federal Communications Commission
voted to open up so-called "white spaces" bandwidth for Internet use,
Dell Computer said it would roll out new laptops equipped with a white
spaces chip.
White spaces are a portion of the broadcast spectrum that border TV frequencies. They have served as a buffer between channels, to limit interference. In fact, broadcasters strongly opposed the FCC move to free up the spectrum for the Internet.
Dell's Director of Technology, Neerai Srivastava, says the company will soon integrate white spaces cards into Dell notebook computers.
White spaces, theoretically at least, have a distinct advantage over Wi-Fi, providing a greater range and can more easily pass through solid walls. Proponents say it will make it easier to provide wireless broadband service in rural areas.
But not everyone is convinced. Grayland Horne, president of Kaballero Communications in White Stone, Virginia, says the FCC has done nothing yet that makes white spaces useful to wireless Internet providers like him.
"It's all very vague," he told ConsumerAffairs.com. "Until the FCC allocates more power for these frequencies, it's not going to extend our present range at all."
Currently Horne's company provides wireless services to two rural counties using W-Fi, the unlicensed 2.4 GHz spectrum opened up in 1995. Currently, he can provide service to customers within a two and a half mile radius of each of his towers.
"With sufficient power, white spaces would extend our range by about a third, which would be significant," Horne said. "But without that extra power, it doesn't do anything for us."
White spaces are also seen as a useful spectrum to connect smart phones and other small devices, but Horne doesn't expect it to become common at Starbucks and other Wi-Fi access "hot spots."
"2.4 GHz is here to stay," he said.
