The FCC just cleared a path for a new generation of ” Super Wi-Fi ” technologies. Sounds great! But what the heck is Super Wi-Fi?

Super Wi-Fi continues to be Wi-Fi…

It’s not as though Super Wi-Fi is some entirely alien concept. For all intents and purposes, it’s Wi-Fi! A similar form of wireless data transmission you utilize around your apartment or at the office or waiting in line at Starbucks. It’s just much, far more powerful.

…but on a new spectrum…

As John explained previously , ordinarilly all Wi-Fi activity happens on an identical 2.4GHz or 5GHz frequencies. For the first time in 25 years, though, the FCC has unfolded a sizable new block of unlicensed spectrum, this time between 50MHz and 700MHz.

…that lives in between your TV channels…

Ever since television went entirely digital , folks like Google have been lobbying , literally, to liberate the airwaves between channels. The so-called ” white spaces” would otherwise were lying around unused or been subject to prohibitive regulatory precautions.

…that’s so much more powerful than what we have now today…

Unlike current Wi-Fi airwaves, whose reach might be measured in feet, the spectrum that might carry Super Wi-Fi can be in a position to travel for several miles attributable to that lower frequency. Through brick walls, even-something your Linksys really struggles with. You may as well anticipate download speeds of 15Mbps to 20Mbps -about as fast as a cable modem.

…that shouldn’t interfere together with your regularly scheduled programming…

Back in 2008, when the white space plan was first approved , the largest concern was that using these airwaves for data transmission could interfere with TV signals . To mitigate those fears, white space devices will probably be required to question a unique geolocation database, ensuring no signals are crossed.

…and with the intention to have (literally) far-reaching benefits…

The advantages are already apparent. Google, as an example, already has an ordeal running in a Logan, Ohio hospital that’s giving first responders and the hospital grounds alike super-speedy broadband. Wilmington, NC uses white-space to send real-time feeds from traffic and security cameras. And finally, you possibly can potentially be capable of access your own home Wi-Fi from several blocks away.

…though maybe not for it slow.

So far, most of what we learn about how the white space will probably be used is predicated on conjecture. There might be some proof-of-concept devices early next year at CES, and there might be more mass production of products in a year or two. But the first Super Wi-Fi projects are prone to be medical, municipal, large-scale . How long it takes for us to be always connected from anywhere and anything? That’s up to the inventors and entrepreneurs to choose. [ FCC (pdf) ]

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This post is tagged: download speeds, intents and purposes, unlicensed spectrum, waiting in line, what the heck, wireless data transmission