spectrum

House subcommittee advances spectrum bill

A spectrum bill has passed through a subcommittee in the House of Representatives that authorizes FCC incentive auctions and also allocates spectrum to public safety.

On Thursday, the communications and technology subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the Jumpstarting Opportunity with Broadband Spectrum Act (JOBS Act).

The legislation authorizes the Federal Communications Commission to create an auction for selling wireless spectrum voluntarily released by TV broadcasters. And it also includes provisions for allocating spectrum and funding a nationwide public safety mobile broadband network.

Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.), who sponsored the bill, said it would help create 100,… Read more

Give your homely headlamp a sexy makeover

Headlamps are undeniably useful, but they are typically dull-looking entities with an emphasis on function rather than fashion. That's changing with Princeton Tec's Spectrum program for customizable headlamps.

Princeton Tec gave me the opportunity to customize a $35 Fuel light. I could have gone with something tasteful, like black and gray. Instead, I went '80s retro with a mix of pink, green, yellow, orange, and blue. It's the Cyndi Lauper of headlamps.

The Fuel has four LEDs that spit out 43 lumens. There are three brightness settings and a flashing setting. It runs on three AAA batteries and goes for up to 146 hours.

The headlamps are hand-assembled in the U.S. to your color specifications. The online design process gives you a very accurate idea of what the final product will look like.

There are 10 colors to choose from, ranging from screaming orange to subdued gray. You can select different colors for each individual part, including the body, battery door, end cap, and bracket.… Read more

Verizon's $3.6 billion spectrum deal: Who wins and who loses?

Verizon Wireless' move to buy 20MHz of AWS wireless spectrum from cable operators has caused a seismic shift in the wireless industry.

The deal announced today will give Verizon access to spectrum licenses that cover about 259 million potential customers. The company plans to pay the cable consortium SpectrumCo--which consists of Comcast, Time Warner, and Bright House Networks--$3.6 billion for the spectrum licenses.

In a market where wireless operators are all jockeying for more spectrum resources, Verizon has scored a major win by taking a huge swath of unused spectrum for itself. Spectrum is the lifeblood of the … Read more

Verizon Wireless nabs cable's wireless spectrum for $3.6B

Verizon Wireless will acquire a swath of spectrum that cable providers have been sitting on, bolstering its own position even as its competitors scramble for more of the limited resource.

In a joint announcement today, Verizon said it would pay $3.6 billion to Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks--collectively known as SpectrumCo--to get what's known as AWS (Advanced Wireless Services) spectrum. The deal also includes the option for Verizon to sell cable service in its stores and for the cable companies to get access to the wireless network on a wholesale basis.

The deal underscores the … Read more

FCC: Ready for reform yet?

commentary In a surprising and disturbing break with long-standing agency practice, the FCC on Tuesday released a draft report on the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile prepared by its staff--days after the parties withdrew their application with the agency.

The move could fuel calls for serious reform of the agency's increasingly free-wheeling behavior.

The two companies withdrew their application on Thanksgiving, following word that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski planned to ask the other commissioners to refer the merger to an administrative judge for a hearing.

That step, agency officials made clear, signaled the chairman's belief … Read more

Sprint gives Dish its blessing on wireless plans

Sprint Nextel gave Dish Network the nod on its plans to acquire spectrum and build its own 4G LTE network, reversing its position from just a month ago.

Sprint said in a recent filing that Dish's proposed network does not interfere with its own operations, according to Fierce Wireless. The two companies will use spectrum that are adjacent to each other, and Sprint had been concerned over potential interference issues.

But Sprint disclosed in the filing that it has signed a deal with Dish in a resolution of the issue, clearing the path for Dish to get government approval … Read more

Verizon's year-end road map shows Galaxy Nexus and much more

Don't look now, but we're in that all-important final stretch of the year where retailers begin to pull out the big guns. Verizon, for its part, plans to overwhelm consumers with three of the top Android smartphones this November in the form of the HTC Rezound, Droid Razr, and Galaxy Nexus.

Glancing at the specs, any one of these devices could be considered a contender for top phone of the year, and as if these three weren't enough to induce decision paralysis, Verizon looks to have even more in store for the last two months of the … Read more

AT&T backs another panicky report on data capacity

Americans are racing to move the business (and play) of our daily lives on to wireless networks so quickly that the networks may not be able to keep up much longer. At least that's what one new industry-backed report threatens warns.

The new report is out today from the Global Information Industry Center at the University of California at San Diego. The paper and its author, UCSD fellow and infrastructure expert Michael Kleeman, lay out some dizzying figures on the growing stresses placed on mobile networks--including those below and in the box to the right.

To keep up with demand, U.S. wireless networks have traditionally doubled their capacity every 30 months, but this trend may not keep up with future demand... the volume of data traffic on U.S. networks is expected to increase by 1,800 percent over the next four years.

The report says the inevitable result of demand outstripping capacity so dramatically will be painful network congestion.

"We must understand and accept the trade-offs we will face for the convenience of accessing limited wireless capacity," report author Kleeman says in a statement. "Alternatively, as citizens we need to dramatically lower our expectations for wireless services in the future."… Read more

Sprint to launch own 4G LTE network in early 2012 (scoop)

Sprint Nextel will launch its own 4G LTE network early next year.

The company is already installing LTE equipment and has been field testing the network in select areas, according to people familiar with the situation. It hopes to launch commercial service by the end of the first quarter or beginning of the second quarter, although the target could move up. It's unclear how many markets would get the service initially.

The LTE rollout is part of the company's broader Network Vision plan. With the costs already accounted for in its prior forecast, the LTE network won't … Read more