FCC Aims To End Debate With Wireless Tests 121
narramissic writes "Engineers from T-Mobile, AT&T, M2Z Networks, Nokia, Metro PCS, CTIA and XM Sirius have convened at a Boeing facility in Seattle this week to watch as the FCC performs tests it hopes will quiet debate over a proposed spectrum auction. At issue is the FCC's requirement that the winner offer free wireless broadband services in a portion of the spectrum, a move the wireless industry contends will lead to interference for 3G phone users. The FCC is conducting some of the same tests that T-Mobile, one of the more vocal opponents of the FCC plan, has already done plus some additional tests, focusing on interference between handsets running on the different frequencies. Some of the tests involve using handsets connected to WiMax or UMTS networks running on spectrum the commercial providers would use, and then issuing signals using the proposed new service and spectrum, to determine at what signal strength the proposed service causes the WiMax or UMTS call to drop."
Re:Why do we need phone companies? (Score:4, Informative)
FCC testing...LOL (Score:1, Informative)
If the FCC testing is like the testing they did with broadband over power lines, no ammount of interferance will change their mind. The test will show substantial interferance but the FCC will declare that anything short of a complete disabling of the interferred service isn't enough interferance to wory about.
All the FCC cares about right now is finding ways to make broadband more readily available. They don't let things like interferance to phone service, emergency communications, aircraft communications, broadcast TV or radio or amateur radio get in the way of that.
Re:Why do we need phone companies? (Score:3, Informative)
Why couldn't it work like packet routing?
One word: Latency. Packet routing networks have inconsistent routing. Inconsistent latency causes spacing in the sound in the conversation. Think about the quality of a phone call where you lose every other 1/8th second of sound.