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Google, Wireless Firms Snipe Over White Spaces


Unused spectrum has potential for WiFi access

T-Mobile and Sprint don't want companies like Google, Microsoft, and other using the "white spaces" of unused spectrum for wireless service.

Complaints to the Federal Communications Commission from Sprint and T-Mobile should be ignored, in the minds of Google and other tech companies. The tech firms want to offer services to people using unlicensed devices in those unused white spaces.

CNNMoney said Google sent a letter to the FCC, advising the agency that Sprint and T-Mobile overstated the interference aspects of white space connections.

Google also said the two telecoms submitted their complaint "quite late in the day." The telecoms want to use that white space for data transfers, a usage Google dismissed as inefficient.

On their Public Policy blog, Google disclosed its interest in those white spaces of spectrum in August 2007. Richard Whitt, Washington Telecom and Media Counsel, noted how Google and other tech companies had formed a White Spaces Coalition to explore the feasibility of that idea.

"The FCC's engineering analysis confirms what we have stated all along: it is technologically feasible to provide Internet access through this segment of spectrum without interfering with either digital television signals or wireless microphones," said Whitt.

These white spaces would allow for the operation of low power connections, with WiFi rather than real broadband. Perhaps that could lead to better implementations of mesh networking in building-dense urban areas to allow for the connections the tech firms propose.

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About the author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Follow me on Twitter, and you can reach me via email at dutter @ webpronews dot com. Why not Mixx this article while you're here?

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