First "Super Wi-Fi" White Space Spectrum Network Deployed In North Carolina
First "Super Wi-Fi" White Space Spectrum Network Deployed In North Carolina
Posted 01/27/2012 at 10:20am
| by Brad Chacos
24
Comments
Print
After years of hemming, hawing and waiting for televisions to make the jump to digital, the very first "Super Wi-Fi" network went live in Wilmington, North Carolina yesterday. Now, Super Wi-Fi is a bit of a misnomer: the technology isn't really Wi-Fi at all -- it utilizes unused "white space" spectrum in the analog T.V. bands, instead -- and it's waaaaay slower than normal Wi-Fi to boot, with speeds up to 22 Mbps. So why is Super Wi-Fi's launch such a big deal?
Advocates hope Super Wi-Fi (or IEEE standard 802.22) will be a way to bring broadband to rural areas that currently have few Internet connectivity options. (Some places in the U.S. still only have DSL or even *shudder* dial-up connections available.) While Super Wi-Fi is slower than traditional Wi-Fi, it's able to transmit over much, much, much longer distances thanks to its lower frequency -- just over 62 miles, in fact. Super Wi-Fi can also beam through physical objects like trees and walls, which gives normal Wi-Fi fits.
Critics used to worry that the signal could interfere with T.V. signals, but between the death of analog T.V. and thorough testing and specifications, that isn't much of a concern any longer. These initial tests will help engineers roll out any kinks in the technology.
Wilmington was chosen as a test bed because it was also a test bed for making the switch to digital T.V. signals -- so it's analog bands are clean, sparse and eagerly awaiting to be used to find pr0n and LOLcatz. This initial experiment will be providing wireless connectivity in two local parks as well as power four wireless cameras in the parks. Forbes' Elizabeth Woyke says the next step of roll-out will allow the city to "remotely manage creek and river water sensors, water quality monitors, flood valves and public lighting."
Do you think Super Wi-Fi will catch on?
More like this
OCFRED
January 31, 2012 at 12:30am
Sounds premature to even consider this in Beta, though one must wonder about not only the latency in transmitting packets 100 klicks but what kind of wattage the consumer hardware will require to push it. A Muni grade budget will allow testing of early hardware though likely a consumer version will be more node like, perhaps with a focused parabola on the roof and fiber to the tower to inhibit gridlock. Tin foil hat kids may think it akin to the power grid, stepping down locally from a singular token ring to rule them all. Not everyone is budgeted for SatCom and with residents mounting increasing opposition to cell towers or back up power gennies in their backyards moving connection hardware to existing hilltop sites can do much more to pave a few more HOV lanes onto our current patchy highway system for folks still driving on dirt.
compro01
January 31, 2012 at 6:31am
Latency? Radio moves at light speed, literally. 100km is about 0.3ms.
Hey.That_Dude
February 01, 2012 at 8:19am
Please don't spout physics when you have forgotten one important fact. INTERFERENCE! It's very easy to get it and it screws latency as the corrupted packets have to be resent. OH! and latency has nothing to do with the medium anyway, coaxial move data at 0.9C and optical moves data at (2/3)C... guess which one has better latency.
avenger48
January 29, 2012 at 12:36pm
If that 22 mbps is the speed of the actual internet going through these, that's actually pretty decent. It's better than basic cable, for example, or mid-tier AT&T U-Verse...
thematejka
January 30, 2012 at 9:08am
I agree! There aren't many situations where one would actually use up to 22mbps, and I mean that in the sense of general consumers. A bit of downloading, online gaming, etc. hardly hits that in terms of throughput. Unless the 22mbps would have to be shared by a community? That might suck.
Holly Golightly
January 30, 2012 at 11:30am
Chances are... The whole city is going to be sharing that broadband speed... Which is why they are being used on former TV broadcast antennas. Hey, it's free. But yeah, the frequency is shared at a 62 mile radius. So your neighbors will get to share that very same broadband space with you. Hopefully there are no broadband hogs downloading 12 bluray movies from 12 different torrent sites at the same time.
praack
January 29, 2012 at 7:07am
hope this does not become another broken promise for rural areas- like all the still dark fiber that was laid years back with government funds
I have a cousin near Sparta- fiber at the foot of the driveway - what are her internet choices? Satellite or a trip to town to the library. not even dial-up
tekknyne
January 28, 2012 at 8:21pm
This sounds pretty awesome. Currently I'm on Verizon Mobile Broadband and the only saving-grace is that we grandfathered in through Alltel and have unlimited data. My latencies aren't terrible, but the max throughput I can get downloading is about 180Kb/s which is pretty crummy. Netflix runs on the lowest quality and still hangs up a few times each movie. I can't believe it's taken so long for a solution like this to come about.
Does anyone know what the latency would be like with this technology? I'd love to play World of Warcraft again with a better ping! On the Verizon card, it's really hard to do 25-man's, but 10-man's weren't too terrible -- maybe 200-400ms ping -- except when there were hiccups/lag and there always are.
Holly Golightly
January 29, 2012 at 1:46am
I do not know how bad or good the latency is with this new wifi, but I have mobile broadband too. The service I signed up with is Clearwire. I get about 65ms ping which is not as fast as any cable or fiber optic network, but it is damn fast for a mobile network. Much faster than the 200-400ms ping you are experiencing with Verizon Wireless. I make phone calls, watch videos, and even stream TV no questions asked. I am not sure what is best for you, but I recommend Clear for truly unlimited mobile broadband.
schwit
January 28, 2012 at 7:11pm
Mobile analyst Sascha Segan explains why it's incorrectly being dubbed as Super Wi-Fi:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2399447,00.asp
Roll Tide
January 28, 2012 at 5:18pm
I hope that this actually catches on in CANADA! I have friends there who are paying through the nose for 200 kbps. Playing Team Fortress 2 with them is watching them join and and drop join and drop. Unfortunately the telecommunications infrastructure is lacking.
Markitzero
January 28, 2012 at 11:10am
I hope it catches on because I live in a rural area and there are places up were I am that can't even get Dial-up. so there only choices are Wireless or Satellite. My current ISP cost $56 at speeds of 5Mbps and it has a cap of 75GBs amonth so I have not been able to do the thing I want to do is NetFlix. The ISP I am on is the only decent wireless and low latency provider with 2-3ms to tower.
Hey.That_Dude
January 28, 2012 at 6:21am
Cool, but only if I get to use it personally. FTTH is the only way into the future.
Holly Golightly
January 28, 2012 at 6:08am
I feel that Super Wifi is Super Limited. 22mbps will become the next dial-up of next year... And then the complaints will start rolling in again. If cellphones work in these rural areas, they could get 4G speed with Clearwire or anybody who offers unlimited 4G speed over the air. My guess is that old analog TV white space will be useless... But I guess it could always turn on the floodlights... If there is still any electricity left to power them on. I say it was best when it was just plain 'ol TV.
NVZBLT
January 27, 2012 at 1:50pm
Im really exited about this. In my area the only connections are dialup (wont even consider at 20/month), satelite that im using (70/month and say hello to 1600ms ping), 3G using cell phone towers and smart hub (5GB limit per month), and yes people actually use regular wifi over 20 miles to get internet out here (30/month 1GB limit per month).
In response to this "it's waaaaay slower than normal Wi-Fi to boot, with speeds up to 22 Mbps" thats per channel. with a range of 54mhz to 862mhz and each channel only taking aprox 6-8mhz band, thats alot of possible channels and potential bandwidth especially considering that in the nearest town to here the fastest connection on cable is 6Mbps.
give it a few years to mature and you will see this technology have some pretty insane speeds.
Keith E. Whisman
January 27, 2012 at 11:21am
I can see wives having their husbands touching the antennas just right to get that perfect signal. At least we will be able to put those big aerial antennas some people still have on their roof.
"The, there, don't move"
w2ed
January 27, 2012 at 11:21am
I think as long as some major players get behind this and they don't try to fork the customers the way other ISPs, Cable and Phone has, it could be a big win. (I also think it will need a new logo - even if DC Comics okays this one, the graphics work needs to be touched up. Or was the black from the wi-fi logo supposed to come up underneath the superman logo?)
CentiZen
January 27, 2012 at 11:33am
...that isn't the official logo. That's a quickly photoshopped picture the author of the article made so he could post this with a picture
AndrewHume1
January 27, 2012 at 11:05am
How the hell will routers transmit 62 miles? I get a broadcast tower but a domestic router? sounds like an invitation to packet sniffing if you ask me...
CentiZen
January 27, 2012 at 11:31am
You won't be using any current domestic routers with this protocol. People will need to use the providers hardware to gain access to this data stream, which I am assuming will probobly be more akin to putting an antenna or dish on your roof or something to that effect.
compro01
January 27, 2012 at 11:20am
I would guess the 62 mile figure assumes a pretty directional antenna.
I personally get internet from a tower 30 miles away and it can reach a bunch further than that.
tony2tonez
January 27, 2012 at 10:39am
I'm sure this will be a paid service, but who is the provider? Because if its only one tv company some people could still lose out.
Connect with MaximumPC
Featured Content
We introduce Intel's latest class of tablet killers and review 4 of the first Ultra...
This month's issue
Feature
11 Hardware Hacks
Feature
Overclock Your CPU
How-To
Supercharge Your Smartphone
Build It
A Powerful $830 Rig
Most Commented Articles
Latest Max PC Tweets
- maximumpc: HUD-Sporting "Google Glasses" May Hit Streets This Year http://t.co/TDXjJowZ3 hours 16 min ago
- maximumpc: Nvidia Releases WHQL-Certified 295.73 GeForce Drivers http://t.co/NVMWruHO4 hours 49 min ago
- maximumpc: http://t.co/BVVfRA3B4 hours 50 min ago
