WiFi on steroids: Delivering broadband to rural Virginia
December 4, 2009
Claudville, VA -A new project could bring high-speed Internet to rural areas -- and souped-up service to urban dwellers. From Blue Ridge Business Journal. Nov. 30, 2009
Notes under Picture: Roger Hayden (right) supervisor-elect of Patrick County's Dan River district and director of the Claudville Computer Center, and Johnny Marion (left) take advantage of the free Internet access at the Claudville Cafe. The cafe is one of a handful of Claudville businesses participating in a project that could bring high-speed access to the rural community -- and souped-up broadband to urban areasBuried amid the hoopla surrounding the transition to digital television is what could become a nugget of rural broadband gold.
Photo credit:Brett Winter Lemon
It’s called white space, industry lingo for the unused TV spectrum left after the switch from analog to digital. And now that the transition is almost complete, technology companies are hoping to use the freed space to transmit high-speed broadband signals to some of the most isolated parts of the country — while concurrently entertaining visions of a “WiFi on steroids� for the rest of America.
The first on the list: Claudville, Va., population 913.
(This is the first white-space test in America. Claudville Computer Center is hosted by the Red Bank Ruritan Club. The center, which offers high-speed Internet service and five computers, was launched in September thanks to a grant from the TDF Foundation)
“It’s not an extravagant, expensive project,� said U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon. “It just involves some transmitting equipment that is placed in a Ruritan building.�
The pilot project, headed by Florida-based technology firm Spectrum Bridge, could bring high-speed Internet access to a population that currently has little, a phenomenon that Patrick County officials claim has exacerbated the problems of industries and schools.
“We have waited and have fallen far behind communities that have many choices for high-speed connectivity which keep or bring new jobs to their people,� said county supervisor Jonathan Large in testimony before Congress in April.
Roger Hayden, supervisor-elect of the Dan River district, added at a press conference last month that in 2004 he called every Internet carrier he could find, but no one was willing to offer high-speed Internet access to Claudville.
Claudville-area officials also previously applied for grants through the Agriculture Department’s Rural Community Connect Program but were denied, most recently in 2007, because a single house in the community had an Internet connection, Large said.
In September 2009, the TDF Foundation funded construction of a computer center, which offered limited high-speed Internet access in a building on the outskirts of town. That effort created a domino effect and culminated in the Spectrum pilot project, Large said.
The general lack of interest from Internet providers is commonly driven by economics, said Charles Bostian, a professor of computer and electrical engineering at Virginia Tech.
“It’s about the same reason that there’s not airline service to Claudville,� he said.
Bridging the last mile
The white space initiative, the first of its kind in the nation, arises from a controversial decision last year by the Federal Communications Commission to allow the use of white space without a license.
The amount of usable white space, which is determined by the number of broadcasters in a region, could provide a unique way to offer broadband to geographically isolated towns because of the signal’s ability to penetrate walls, trees and other objects. Traditionally, TV signals are stronger and broadcast a greater distance than traditional WiFi.
“Opening the white spaces will allow for the creation of a WiFi on steroids. It has the potential to improve wireless broadband connectivity and inspire an ever-widening array of new Internet based products and services for consumers,� former FCC chairman Kevin Martin said after the 2008 decision. “Consumers across the country will have access to devices and services that they may have only dreamed about before.�
On a smaller scale, white space is just one of a slew of options to bring what industry officials call the “last mile� of broadband connectivity to rural areas. In most cases a “middle mile� extends fiber optic cable or microwaves from the boundaries of wireless providers to the edge of a town. Other last mile technologies include WiFi, WiMax or a more expensive expansion of existing fiber optics by a cable or phone company.
For now, consumers in places like Claudville connect to the Internet through a slow dial-up connection or pricey satellite service. White space technology could be a popular low-cost alternative, Boucher said.
A September study estimated that white space could generate billions of dollars in economic benefits to the United States over the next 15 years. That study, commissioned by Microsoft, estimated that a best-case scenario could result in almost $15 billion of annual economic value. The study also found that the addition of white spaces could increase between 9 percent and 22 percent the amount of unlicensed WiFi spectrum available for a typical U.S. location.
Concerns about interference
A handful of groups oppose use of white space, including broadcasters who fear interference and sports leagues and megachurch pastors who rely on wireless microphones that use the same airwaves.
“Our concern as broadcasters is that our business model is based on the ability for our station to serve a crystal-clear� signal, said Kris Jones, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters. “If interference is coming from some unlicensed device, that poses a problem for us.�
Spectrum Bridge claims the project won’t cause interference with local TV signals because of an “intelligent white spaces design,� which allows white space transmitters to adapt almost immediately to new TV broadcasts.
Others oppose white space as a broadband alternative for reasons related to property-based use of the airwaves. The controversy is whether those airwaves are held by a private group, spectrum manager or the public.
“Traditionally, TV broadcasters have had property rights in their spectrum,� Bostian said. “If nobody has any property rights I guess nobody owns it.� The risk there, Bostian said, is that anyone could use the spectrum and there would be no guarantee their system wouldn’t interfere with similar systems.
Spectrum officials said the Claudville system cost about $40,000 to set up and install but estimate that the technology would be much cheaper to consumers if it were manufactured and sold in mass volumes.
During the 18-month pilot project, a local cafe, a school and a handful of home-based businesses will have high-speed Internet access.
Michelle Lawson, owner of the Claudville Cafe, said she has seen an increase in foot traffic from people coming in to use the Internet, including job seekers and high school students doing their homework.
“We are getting reports of rock-solid connections even in heavy rain,� said Rick Rotondo, co-founder and chief marketing officer at Spectrum Bridge. Rotondo added that people have reported a connection five times stronger and more reliable than satellite connections.
Changing perceptions of the Internet
That strong signal, if reliable, could propel white space Internet technology well beyond rural Patrick County and into the homes and businesses of urbanites, Rotondo said.
Cities could use the unused spectrum for broadband that penetrates large buildings, office and industrial facilities.
Some have gone as far to say that white space technology could change the way Americans think of the Internet.
Shelly Palmer, a national technology consultant and commentator, said successful white space technology could result in “a world where there would be no concept of Internet and broadband but of connected and not connected devices.�
It could, for example, allow a user to turn on the lights in her home and open the garage door before she leaves work. Or to purchase a PDA or cellphone and not have to worry about what supplementary wireless plan is needed to make the device work, he said.
But that world is a long way off.
White space technology used in large cities could face roadblocks in the form of transmitters hidden behind skyscrapers and ongoing battles about who owns the airwaves, Bostian said.
Additionally, the technology has not been tested beyond Claudville. “Ninety percent of what this thing needs to do, you haven’t built,� Palmer said.
For more information about the white space project, visit www.rogerthayden.com or spectrumbridge.com
Here is the link to the Blue Ridge Business Journal, November 2009 edition:
http://view.vcab.com/showvcab.aspx?vcabID=cllSpaclSgjhcl