[MLB-WIRELESS] Ericsson Australia's submission to thewireless broadband inquiry

[Tony Langdon]

> But the feds can't regulate EVERY spectrum from 1Hz to 
> 1000GHz.  Aren't they
> obliged to leave certain spectrums license-free?  And isn't 
> the already
> extensive adoption of 2.4GHz at this level enough to rule out future
> regulation?

I don't know that there's any obligation to do so, but it is in the economic
interests of some industries to have some licence free spectrum.

> 
> I'm just guessing here, but it just seems a bit freaky that 
> they can even
> /suggest/ that 2.4GHz should require a license.

I suspect doing so would open a whole can of worms.  Remember 2.4 GHz is an
ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band, meaning it has been set aside
for the purpose of equipment which is not specifically a radiocommunications
device, but which uses RF for its operation.  The humble microwave oven is a
perfect example of an ISM application.  As a result of the potential crud
from millions of these and other devices, the band is somewhat less valuable
for high reliability commercial use.

As a result, amateurs get access to the band, on the condition they accept
interference from and don't cause interference to ISM devices.

And more recently, WLANs and other consumer devices are allowed here on a
licence free basis.  Again, these consumer devices get no protection from
interference caused by ISM devices (ie. if someone's microwave oven trashes
your WLAN - tough shit!), or amateurs (Oops, the WLAN went down when we were
testing 2.4 GHz ATV).  And they're not allowed to cause interference to
either of these licenced services (like the case of the WISP that got shut
down by a ham in the States).

To think that some Internet companies are clamouring to utilise this
spectrum is somewhat scary.  I can see it working in the country, where the
RF levels much lower, but to do it in the city, with millions of microwave
ovens and other ISM devices, a handful of amateurs with ATV or other
transmitter capabilities and a very high noise level from other wireless
networks, Bluetooth, cordless video transmitters, etc, etc is just crazy
IMHO.

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