Cable Needs Unlicensed Spectrum to Create ‘Cloud of Connectivity,’ Says Calabrese
Expanding the ability of consumers to offload their data needs onto Wi-Fi is a better way to address the “spectrum crunch” than auctioning off wireless bands, said New America Foundation Wireless Future Project Director Michael Calabrese at an NCTA presentation on his cable spectrum report (http://bit.ly/bRNbEs) which was published by Time Warner Cable (CD Oct 10 p14). The report urges policymakers to prioritize the release of unlicensed spectrum for Wi-Fi use to accommodate consumers’ increasing data needs, which he said can’t be met with licensed spectrum alone. “Clearing spectrum for auction takes too long, it’s too expensive and at best delays the inevitable transition to small cells” and other ways of moving data, said Calabrese.
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Wi-Fi is “almost 30 times more efficient than mobile” on the amount of information sent through a given bandwidth, said Cable Labs Senior Strategic Analyst Rob Alderfer during the presentation. Calabrese cited studies from Cisco and others that say “less than two-thirds” of worldwide data travels over cellular connections, and that the number would be “less than 20 percent” within two years. Calabrese said this is because of a distinction between “mobile” data use -- accessing a data connection in a car or while traveling -- and “nomadic” data use -- accessing the Internet in a café or an office as well as the home. “Nomadic” data use tends to happen when the user is within range of a Wi-Fi connection, and is more prevalent, Calabrese said. “Two thirds of all mobile devices are used primarily at home and at work,” he said. Wireless carrier costs “would be $20 billion higher” if those companies had to handle the data that is offloaded onto Wi-Fi connections, said Calabrese.
Plans by a consortium of cable companies -- Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cablevision and Bright House Networks -- to create a nationwide network of wireless hot spots will likely increase the Wi-Fi offload, Calabrese said. Customers of any of the companies can use all of the 200,000 hot spots built so far. Telecom companies have created an even more expansive “cloud of connectivity” in European cities, with networks of open Wi-Fi connections that are able to hand off customers as they move through the city, said Calabrese. This was accomplished through provider programs encouraging Wi-Fi customers to turn their private connections into public hot spots, Calabrese said. The hot spots wall off the owner’s SSID and prioritize that person’s connections, but allow others to share it, he said. Comcast announced plans to begin a similar program this summer, Calabrese said.
To increase connectivity stateside, more spectrum has to be freed up for Wi-Fi, said Alderfer. Cable Labs studies said the U.S. “will need more Wi-Fi capacity in the near term,” he said. With dependence on Wi-Fi increasing, interference between devices is also on the rise, which users experience as a slowing connection, Calabrese said. The current 2.4 GHz band used by most Wi-Fi devices doesn’t have enough room to meet demand, so Calabrese’s report recommends that policymakers create unlicensed spectrum in the 5 GHz band, the 3.5 GHz band, and in the spaces unused by broadcasters and wireless in the 600 MHz band (CD Oct 17 p6). All three bands are the subject of ongoing FCC proceedings on how their spectrum will be divvied up.
Increased unlicensed bandwidth in the 5 GHz band would also allow the communications industry to use the full potential of the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard -- a priority because millions of new devices are already being set to be constructed using the new standard, said Alderfer. “We have a tidal wave coming,” he said. The 802.11ac devices can’t use the existing 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band, he said.
Wireless companies support expansion in unlicensed spectrum that doesn’t interfere with licensed uses, said CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter in an interview. “I can’t think of a single phone on the market that doesn’t make use of unlicensed spectrum.” However, he said creating wireless spectrum though auctions has economic benefits that don’t come with unlicensed spectrum such as encouraging investment in infrastructure and creating jobs. “Clearing spectrum for auction helps to pay for things like FirstNet,” he said. Since users don’t pay for unlicensed spectrum, it doesn’t spur economic growth in the same way, he said.
CTIA said it fully supports expanding unlicensed spectrum in the 5 GHz band, “which is not entirely suited for licensed mobile” and supports some possible shared use in regions of the 3.5 GHz and 600 MHz bands that aren’t being used for licensed spectrum, though he said FCC rules should be crafted to prevent interference. Carpenter said licensed spectrum should be made available wherever it’s possible to do so.
Calabrese conceded to limits in expanding Wi-Fi. Along with interference concerns, he said Wi-Fi is still dependant on cable lines; without cable infrastructure, the connected networks can’t be created. He said this problem could affect low-income areas without many cable connections, or could be exacerbated by the spread of “cord cutting.” “There’s no connectivity without wires underneath,” he said. -- Monty Tayloe (mtayloe@warren-news.com)