Cheshire Cat Photo Blog(...said the Cat: 'we're all mad here....')

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman, Julius Genachowski has called a new class of better, faster Internet connections, that could occur after an FCC vote on September 23, “Super Wi-Fi” or “Wi-Fi on Steroids.”

The FCC vote concerns the “white space” between the channels of broadcast TV. If the white spaces were freed up for Super Wi-Fi, the signals could travel MILES instead of around 100 yards and they could pass through obstructions like walls, by virtue of the frequencies used.

CNN.com quotes Genachowski from an interview that they conducted:

“The spectrum allows signals to travel further, to go through walls, to [transfer] more information — so it’s very robust,” he said in an interview with CNN.com. “Super Wi-Fi has extraordinary potential. What’s as exciting is we have a new platform for innovation and we can’t anticipate what will happen next.”

If the FCC votes to free up the “vacant airwaves,” it will be the first time since 1985 that they have made new portions of the wireless spectrum available for use.

The National Association of Broadcasters is working with the FCC to make sure that they can still broadcast interference-free television signals. Apparently, most of the technical details have been worked out. Current, “regular” Wi-Fi uses 2.4-GHz signals, which are shorter wavelengths than would be used by Super-Wi-Fi. Users of certain wireless microphones may have to shift frequencies, however.

Super Wi-Fi is being used in tests “to bring broadband internet to a school in rural Claudeville, Virginia, to add a public Wi-Fi network in Wilmington, North Carolina, and obtain data about the “smart grid” electricity infrastructure in Plumas County, California.”

-Bill at

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