AVS Official Topic - The FCC & Broadcast Spectrum - Page 3

Originally Posted by Sammer

First of all the statement is B.S. because it doesn't recognize all the uses of the TV broadcast spectrumrural white band (broadband) use.

Originally Posted by systems2000

I believe the FCC considers "White Space" as part of their "National Broadband Policy."

Originally Posted by Sammer

There will not be any UHF "White Space" if CTIA -The Wireless Association ever gets to take away 150-180 MHz or at least channels 26-51. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that part of the reason they want all that TV spectrum (including all or most of the most desirable channels, 21 to 36 and 38 to 45, for digital TV) is to prevent both ATSC Mobile / Handheld and TV Band Devices (both are potential competitors in areas CTIA members are interested in) from ever getting a successful start.

Originally Posted by JeffAHayes

The need for more Mhz for wireless broadbrand is quite likely only "peripheral" to their actual agenda.
Jeff

Originally Posted by Sammer

They are at least five years from building out the wireless spectrum they already have so locking up spectrum is their agenda.

Originally Posted by dr1394

There are only three currently used cell phone bands in the United States.

Mobile 824-849 MHz, Base 869-894 MHz (Cellular) 50 MHz total
Mobile 1850-1910 MHz, Base 1930-1990 MHz (PCS) 120 MHz total
Mobile 1710-1755 MHz, Base 2110-2155 MHz (AWS) 90 MHz total

The overall total is 260 MHz. The new 700 MHz allocation is another 62 MHz when it gets built out, bringing the grand total to 322 MHz.

You can see which bands are licensed in your area here:

http://www.wirelessadvisor.com/

Just enter a zip code.

Ron

Originally Posted by tkrhdtv

Sprint Nextel also has/will have ~14 MHZ ESMR spectrum adjacent to the cellular bands, plus 10MHz adjacent to the top of the PCS band.

Originally Posted by jeffahayes

i think what really needs to be worked on is new compression algorithms to shove a lot more sh*t through a wavelength than is currently possible, since there are only so many wavelengths.
Jeff

Originally Posted by BCF68

Well as long at you only get 5 GB per month and each GB over that is $51.20( and no that's not a typo ) exactly how much "streaming" and "mobile computing" are people really going to do?

If my ISP charged those rates I'd be paying $3600 a month for internet

Originally Posted by JeffAHayes

I wonder if someone should print out this thread and send it to the Congressional committee responsible for administration of the FCC?
Jeff

Effort to Widen U.S. Internet Access Sets Up Battle

By BRIAN STELTER and JENNA WORTHAM

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing an ambitious 10-year plan that will reimagine the nation’s media and technology priorities by establishing high-speed Internet as the country’s dominant communication network.

The plan, which will be submitted to Congress on Tuesday, is likely to generate debate in Washington and a lobbying battle among the telecommunication giants, which over time may face new competition for customers. Already, the broadcast television industry is resisting a proposal to give back spectrum the government wants to use for future mobile service.

The blueprint reflects the government’s view that broadband Internet is becoming the common medium of the United States, gradually displacing the telephone and broadcast television industries. It also signals a shift at the F.C.C., which under the administration of President George W. Bush gained more attention for policing indecency on the television airwaves than for promoting Internet access.

According to F.C.C. officials briefed on the plan, the commission’s recommendations will include a subsidy for Internet providers to wire rural parts of the country now without access, a controversial auction of some broadcast spectrum to free up space for wireless devices, and the development of a new universal set-top box that connects to the Internet and cable service.

The effort will influence billions of dollars in federal spending, although the F.C.C. will argue that the plan should pay for itself through the spectrum auctions. Some recommendations will require Congressional action and industry support, and will affect users only years from now.

Still, “each bullet point will trigger its own tortuous battle,” said Craig Moffett, a senior analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company.

For much of the last year, Julius Genachowski, the F.C.C. chairman and the plan’s chief salesman, has laid the groundwork for the Congressionally mandated plan by asserting that the United States is lagging far behind other countries in broadband adoption and speed. About a third of Americans have no access to high-speed Internet service, cannot afford it or choose not to have it.

In a speech last month, Mr. Genachowski observed that the country could build state-of-the-art computers and applications, but without equivalent broadband wiring, “it would be like having the technology for great electric cars, but terrible roads.”

The plan envisions a fully Web-connected world with split-second access to health care information and online classrooms, delivered through wireless devices yet to be dreamed up in Silicon Valley. But to get there, analysts say the F.C.C. must tread carefully with companies like Comcast and AT&T that largely control Internet pricing and speeds. Already, there are questions about the extent to which the F.C.C. has jurisdiction over Internet providers.

The F.C.C. says it can make some important changes on its own. They include reforms to the Universal Service Fund, which spends $8 billion a year from telephone surcharges to ensure that rural and poor people have phone lines at home. It also supplies Internet access to schools, libraries and rural clinics.

By reducing the phone subsidies over time, the fund could instead “support broadband access and affordability,” especially in remote locations where private companies have little incentive to build networks, said Colin Crowell, a senior counselor to Mr. Genachowski.

In recent weeks, the most-talked-about idea in the television industry has been a voluntary auction of over-the-air spectrum for future mobile broadband uses. In total, the F.C.C. is hoping to free up roughly 500 megahertz of spectrum, much of which would come from television broadcasters, which would be compensated if Congress acts.

The proposal already faces resistance from the TV industry. Stations say they still serve a valuable public service, especially during emergencies, and say the F.C.C. proposals could cause gaps in signal coverage.

But F.C.C. officials assert that the spectrum changes are necessary given a looming spectrum shortage. “It isn’t a crisis tomorrow, it’s a crisis in five or six years,” Mr. Crowell said, but allocation “literally takes years.”

The plan will advise that some of the spectrum become unlicensed, so it can serve as a test bed for new technologies.

Also notably, the plan will include an initiative the chairman calls 100 Squared — equipping 100 million households with high-speed Internet gushing through their pipes at 100 megabits a second by the end of this decade. According to comScore, the average subscriber now receives speeds of three to four megabits a second.

The government is “setting a stake in the ground by setting a standard for broadband speeds in order to be a competitive nation,” said Dan Hays, director of PRTM, a global management consulting firm in the telecommunications industry.

He said the plan could place “significant pressure” on incumbent providers to improve their networks.

Mr. Genachowski also argues that broadband expansion can be an economic stimulant, a crucial selling point in a time of high unemployment. “Broadband will be the indispensable platform to assure American competitiveness, ongoing job creation and innovation, and will affect nearly every aspect of Americans’ lives at home, at work, and in their communities,” he said Friday.

According to officials briefed on the proposals, the plan will also call for a “digital literacy corps” to help unwired Americans learn online skills, and recommendations for $12 billion to $16 billion for a nationwide public safety network that would connect police, fire departments and other first responders.

In a move that could affect policy decisions years from now, the F.C.C. will begin assessing the speeds and costs of consumer broadband service. Until then, consumers can take matters into their own hands with a new suite of online and mobile phone applications released by the F.C.C. that will allow them to test the speed of their home Internet and see if they’re paying for data speeds as advertised.

“Once again, the F.C.C. is putting service providers on the spot,” said Julien Blin, a telecommunications consultant at JBB Research.

The plan, which will be submitted to Congress on Tuesday, is likely to generate debate in Washington and a lobbying battle among the telecommunication giants, which over time may face new competition for customers. Already, the broadcast television industry is resisting a proposal to give back spectrum the government wants to use for future mobile service.

For much of the last year, Julius Genachowski, the F.C.C. chairman and the plan’s chief salesman, has laid the groundwork for the Congressionally mandated plan by asserting that the United States is lagging far behind other countries in broadband adoption and speed. About a third of Americans have no access to high-speed Internet service, cannot afford it or choose not to have it.

By reducing the phone subsidies over time, the fund could instead “support broadband access and affordability,” especially in remote locations where private companies have little incentive to build networks, said Colin Crowell, a senior counselor to Mr. Genachowski.

According to F.C.C. officials briefed on the plan, the commission’s recommendations will include a subsidy for Internet providers to wire rural parts of the country now without access...

The plan envisions a fully Web-connected world with split-second access to health care information and online classrooms, delivered through wireless devices yet to be dreamed up in Silicon Valley.

In recent weeks, the most-talked-about idea in the television industry has been a voluntary auction of over-the-air spectrum for future mobile broadband uses. In total, the F.C.C. is hoping to free up roughly 500 megahertz of spectrum, much of which would come from television broadcasters, which would be compensated if Congress acts.

But F.C.C. officials assert that the spectrum changes are necessary given a looming spectrum shortage. “It isn’t a crisis tomorrow, it’s a crisis in five or six years,” Mr. Crowell said, but allocation “literally takes years.”

Also notably, the plan will include an initiative the chairman calls 100 Squared — equipping 100 million households with high-speed Internet gushing through their pipes at 100 megabits a second by the end of this decade. According to comScore, the average subscriber now receives speeds of three to four megabits a second.

According to officials briefed on the proposals, the plan will also call for a “digital literacy corps” to help unwired Americans learn online skills...

...and recommendations for $12 billion to $16 billion for a nationwide public safety network that would connect police, fire departments and other first responders.

But the FCC's advice to Congress is that there is a growing spectrum crisis that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. "If the U.S. does not address this situation promptly," says the plan, "scarcity of mobile broadband could mean higher prices, poor service quality, an inability for the U.S. to compete internationally, depressed demand and, ultimately, a drag on innovation."

Originally Posted by kenglish

it is probably doomsday for rural TV translator services in places like Utah.

Originally Posted by dr1394

http://download.broadband.gov/plan/n...dband-plan.pdf

RECOMMENDATION 5.8.5: the FCC should initiate a rulemaking proceeding to reallocate 120 megahertz from the broadcast television (TV) bands, including:

➤ update rules on TV service areas and distance separations and revise the table of allotments to ensure the most efficient allotment of six-megahertz channel assignments as a starting point.

➤ establish a licensing framework to permit two or more stations to share a six-megahertz channel.

➤ determine rules for auctions of broadcast spectrum reclaimed through repacking and voluntary channel sharing.

➤ explore alternatives—including changes in broadcast technical architecture, an overlay license auction, or more extensive channel sharing—in the event the preceding recommendations do not yield a significant amount of spectrum.

➤ take additional measures to increase efficiency of spectrum use in the broadcast TV bands.

[...] Reallocation would focus primarily on major markets where the broadcast TV bands are most congested and the need for additional spectrum for broadband use will be greatest. [...]

Two stations could generally broadcast one primary HD video stream each over a shared six-megahertz channel.[97] Some stations are already broadcasting multiple HD streams simultaneously today and claim to deliver “spectacular” signal quality that “consistently satisfies [their] discerning viewers.”[98]

Each station may not have sufficient capacity to maintain current HD picture quality if both are transmitting highly complex HD programming simultaneously. Such incidences occur infrequently, however. […] Stations have several options to mitigate the potential impact to over-the-air signal quality, including statistical multiplexing, bit grooming, and rate shaping. In addition, stations may be able to achieve at least a 15% improvement in MPEG-2 efficiency through more advanced encoding techniques.