[opendtv] Re: EE Times: 5G Needs Mmwave Regs—Pronto
- From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 07 Aug 2017 07:56:55 -0400
On Aug 6, 2017, at 9:45 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
How did the radio industry manage these issues between 1922 and 1928
when the FRC was created?
Prior to 1927, spectrum was managed by the Department of Commerce, Craig. It
is hardly a surprise that as broadcasting became popular, a more specialized
agency would be put in charge. In other countries too, their governments
manage the RF spectrum within their territory.
Governments around the world not only manage their spectrum, they tightly
control it, and in most areas f the world they ALSO controlled radio and TV
broadcasting - not just the technical standards and spectrum allocations, but
the broadcasts as well, setting up government run broadcasters.
If you wonder why I have been quoting so much from Hazlett's The Political
Spectrum, it is because I have contemplated writing a similar book for several
decades, especially after working on the U.S> DTV standard.
Our decision to allocate spectrum to commercial broadcasters, rather than
setting up a government propaganda machine, has been held out as symbol of the
independence of the press and media from government control. The reality is far
different, as Hazlett points out.
What we got was a handful of highly profitable special interests that are
entirely beholden to the politicians, who they serve "in the public interest."
One need look no further than the current world of "fake news" and "alternative
facts" to understand that the mainstream media has become a political
propaganda machine, not to mention one of the most powerful cultural forces in
history, fundamentally reshaping public opinion and mores.
So what really happened between 1922 and 1928?
Almost exactly what has happened since we turned to the marketplace to manage
spectrum they lease from the government. I'm not going to quote Hazlett here
again, as I already did that. Obviously it went right over your head.
Yes The Commerce Department was the "spectrum manager" during this period. But
the industry managed the spectrum they were using, the technical standards, and
the interference issues...
Just as the cellular industry does today.
It was working too well. There was too much competition. So the special
interests got together with Commerce Secretary Hoover and asked for the
government to step in and regulate this success story. By doing so the pace of
innovation slowed and a few special interests used the government to protect
them from competition. THe same thing happened with TV.
Again, I suggest you read the book so you can stop making a fool of yourself.
Who wrote the ground rules for the cellular microwave deployments?
The FCC manages cellular communications spectrum, although in the US, the
different operators decide on their own specific standards, within their
allocated frequency bands.
Nope. Congress took away the FCCs management authority when they were directed
to set up the spectrum lottery in the '80s and the auctions since then.
As opposed to having a common shared resource, allowing use of ay phone
appliance, and any features offered by the appliance, that the individual
owners might want to use. (Sort of, a free pass given to "greedy bastards" to
have their way. The FCC did this to "promote innovation, after AMPS, although
now that the various companies have all settled on [non-interoperable] LTE, I
wonder how such waste of spectrum is justifiable.)
Nope. The FCC ignored Congress and drew out the APMS deployment for a decade
creating mountains of paperwork that ultimately ended with the collapse of a
warehouse in Philadelphia.
The cellular industry initially deployed competing technologies, not unlike
many other market driven industries - can you say PC versus Mac?
But they came to understand the advantages of working together to manage and
share the limited spectrum they have spent billions for. They now pool their
spectrum resources and share towers that are managed by companies that
specialize int his service. They even have allowed many non spectrum owners to
share these networks.
As a result we have experienced robust competition, rapid innovation, and
rapidly declining cost to consumers.
You continue to miss the point
Oh, by the way, we already went over all of this too!! Another retread.
Yes. I explained all of this before. Clearly you did not understand a word. The
only retread here is your unjustified talking points.
And why are companies and engineers waiting now for the FCC to do
something?
Because, Craig, anyone who is responsible to actually make something work, as
opposed to only talking about it, has to know the environment in which his
product has to operate.
I GUARANTEE you that the engineers who are waiting on the FCC, know a great
deal more about the technology and the spectrum environment in which it will be
used than the FCC. These are the folks who created 3G, 4G and LTE, WITHOUT any
help from the FCC.
How the 5G spectrum will be divvied up is of paramount importance, if you
want to guarantee that your products and services will be reliable.
This is true. As I said yesterday, the question is WHO should make these
decisions? Once again the FCC has decided that THEY should decide. And once
again, everyone is WAITING for them to decide.
It remains to be seen if they will take a light handed approach, determining
which bands should be auctioned, which should be unlicensed, and which should
be shared. Or if they will revert to the heavy handed approach, determine the
technical standards for these bands.
I thought all of this would have been obvious, Craig. The FCC needs to get
the details determined, for 5G.
Like they did for 3G and 4G.
You are hopeless...
If it were a trivial task, any loudmouth could do it, eh? They could say, "We
don’t need any standards, we'll let the market decide." Those who trivialize
problems invariably don’t have a clue. This applies across the board, not
just to engineering.
The marketplace is fully capable of determining technical standards.
Your beloved Internet is a shining example...
Somehow the marketplace has figured out how to manage both the spectrum they
have paid dearly for, and the spectrum they create in wires, and to make it all
work seamlessly.
Regards
Craig
Other related posts:
