[wsfii-discuss] Choices in cellular - FCC USA - implications for access

Sun Oct 21 14:11:20 UTC 2007

[snip]
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/172690186/article.pl

An anonymous reader writes "The FCC is butting heads with wireless phone companies over 'wiggle room' the government organization wishes to allow consumers. Along with the move to the auction system, the government is removing restrictions on pieces of the wireless spectrum, which will allow a freedom of choice not usually seen with wireless communication devices. 

'In the past, when the F.C.C. auctioned spectrum for cellular service, it allowed the winners to determine the equipment and applications that would run on their networks. That created the current status quo, in which a vast majority of American consumers buy a handset from a wireless service provider. The open-access rules, which will apply to about one-third of the spectrum being sold at the auction, represent a significant departure from past practice. They require the winners to let consumers use any tested, safe and compatible device or application on its network. Entrepreneurs could sell handsets with capabilities that are unavailable -- or unavailable at affordable prices -- from current carriers.'"
[unsnip]

This presumably means that it will be possible to build mix-and-match radio sets that use the cellular spectrum from a network service provider for bandwidth-'wasting' packets, such as locational data, time etc (I'm just guessing), that could spin out a cornucopia of new, hitherto unavailable, possibilities, including (again, I'm just speculating - the innovation could lie somewhere else entirely) faster/smoother handovers between wifi APs while on the move. 

Vickram
http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com

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