Posted on 12/22/2007 7:32:52 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
In the year ahead, a long-heralded revolution in wireless communications will finally come to pass. It may throw handset makers and service providers into turmoil, but over time it should be great for consumers. Fast, wireless data will become more widely available, the choice of data devices and mobile handsets will expand, and service just might get cheaper.
The biggest driver of change is an event slated for February, 2009. It is, of all things, the shutdown of analog television broadcasting. The conversion to digital TV will free up space now occupied by UHF channels 52 to 69. A chunk is being turned over to police and fire departments, and the rest will be auctioned off in January, 2008.
There are three reasons this spectrum will change the wireless landscape. First, it increases the total bandwidth available for wireless networks. Second, the relatively low frequency—around 700 MHz—penetrates buildings well. That means it will work as an alternative to cable or DSL Internet service to homes as well as for mobile phones. Finally, the Federal Communications Commission will require the buyers of a large piece of the spectrum to give customers much greater freedom in their choice of devices than carriers have traditionally allowed.
The auction is shaping up as a battle between entrenched carriers AT&T (T) and Verizon Wireless (VZ) , and a group of upstarts, most prominently Google (GOOG) . Many of the industry's leading players—with the notable exception of AT&T, Apple (AAPL) , and Microsoft (MSFT) —have joined Google's Open Handset Alliance, which is creating standardized handset software that can run any application users choose.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
That's pretty cool on a technical level, but watch out for the FCC. They used to just send a nasty letter when they detected an unlicensed signal or got complaints, but now they'll come in like JBGTs.
I'd like to be able to unrecord stuff I have watched!
What about all the VHF spectrum that will be abandoned, I wonder when all the lvhf hvhfstaions cease analog broadcasting?
They have plans for it.
Yeah, that was years ago, and I doubt anyone noticed before someone told me how illegal it was and made me stop.
Yesterday I brought up the Christmas LPs. Have a box of 45s in storage downstairs too. (My mother threw out my 78s in the early 70s, along with my trunk full of vacuum tubes, else I'd still have those too.)
And those of us who can no longer hear the difference.
I predict that if the analog shutdown happens without too much fuss, and if the Dems take over in 2008, AM radio will be the next "obsolete" technology to be phased out.
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