Hasta La Gadget!

This week the FCC’s proposal for opening up a new large bit of spectrum in the USA reserved for wifi internet having some car trouble. The auto industry – via the Transportation Society of America (ITSA) has sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission asking them to to heed their warning. Their warning, in this case, was that these new wifi networks could potentially interfere with vehicle-to-vehicle communications networks coming in the near future.

This call to action (or call to stop action, as it were), comes after FCC Chairman Julius Genachoski spoke up at CES 2013 about cracking open unlicensed spectrum for a speed boost in wireless internet across the USA. It was then that Genachowski let it be known that this move would “free up a substantial amount of spectrum for wifi to relieve wifi congestion and improve wifi speeds” across the country – conferences, airports, and homes included.

Image above via SlashGear Chevrolet Sonic post about Siri integration and other wireless-related technologies therein. Slightly different from what the future holds with car-to-car communications.

The FCC’s plan includes a clearing of 195 MHz of spectrum in the 5GHz band to be used by wifi networks exclusively. The ITSA has spoken up this week with a note that their future plans for a highly secure wireless technology connecting network-ready cars could be interfered with by the FCC’s new move. This technology would allow cars to get information about their speed, acceleration, breaking, trajectories, and destinations to allow them better knowledge on how they’ll be getting where they’re going.

Instead of asking that this wifi expansion be stopped before its started, the auto group has asked that the FCC put safeguards in place to guarantee their future networks would not be hindered in any way. If the two sets of wireless technology did cross over in one way or another, the auto industry would be on the short end of the stick. Any sign of safety being at risk in vehicles using this up and coming short-range technology would be a big boon for the whole collection of auto makers hoping to make usage widespread.

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America is made up of members such as Chrysler, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz – not to mention AAA. This should be an interesting battle (or kind, gentle, measured talk between friends) that you’ll want to follow!

[via GigaOM]

FCC Wifi expansion sees slight Auto Industry hold-up is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Lax self-certification rules and poor record keeping have seen the Lifeline program – the subsidized cellphone scheme aiming to give low-income Americans access to a mobile phone – taken advantage of, according to new research. The program – which spent roughly $2.2bn on subsidized phones in 2012 – has seen rules tightened by the FCC after concerns that carriers were not doing due-diligence on whether participants were actually eligible. However, according to research by the WSJ, there are suggestions a sizable portion of those still using Lifeline may not, in fact, fall within its remit.

[Image credit: Matthijs Rouw]

Research conducted by the FCC for the newspaper into subscribers on Virgin Mobile, AT&T, Telrite, Tag Mobile, and Verizon, indicated more than 40-percent of Lifeline subscribers either could not demonstrate their eligibility, or simply did not respond to demands for proof.

Changes in the FCC rules around Lifeline came into effect last year, toughening considerably what hoops would-be subscribers needed to jump through in order to get service. For instance, some states had permitted applications without any evidence of eligibility – which includes being on Medicaid, food stamps, or various other criteria – while others allowed self-certification rather than production of official evidence.

Carriers are paid $9.25 per customer, per month by the Universal Service Administrative Co., which organizes the Lifeline scheme. Roughly $2.50 is contributed per month by American tax payers, though that is subsequently spread across several of the subsidy schemes, including broadband and landline access.

As a result of the new research, the FCC is apparently considering levying fines on carriers which have been particularly liberal with their Lifeline sign-ups. That could prove expensive: up to $150,000 per violation per day, though that’s capped at $1.5m.

The carriers, meanwhile, argue that the previous lax criteria – and the absence of a central database of those involved in the scheme – had made it difficult for them to monitor users; there were also few checks as to whether households did indeed have only one active Lifeline account, as is the rules. Still, the FCC expects savings of up to $2bn over the next three years through toughening the checks.

Subsidy scam: Lifeline phone program misuse rife as FCC weighs fines is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Samsung may be trying to usurp Qi’s wireless-charging dominance, but for the moment it still has to play along with the de-facto industry standard. That’s why the company has pushed this Qi-compatible wireless charging plate onto the green baize of the FCC’s poker table, likely in preparation for a commercial release. Peel away the plastic and you’ll find a beefy arc reactor electromagnet nestled at the heart of the device — and since the Commission was kind enough to publish some pictures, we’ve thrown them into the gallery below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Samsung

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Source: FCC

The Washington Post boldly led a front-page story last weekend with the claim: “The federal government wants to create super WiFi networks across the nation, so powerful and broad in reach that consumers could use them to make calls or surf the Internet without paying a cellphone bill every month.” More »

Remember yesterday’s story about how the FCC has put up a proposal to create a Super Wi-Fi network that will be free for the masses to use, not to mention having far extended ranges that would put your regular 802.11n Wi-Fi network to shame? Well, it goes without saying that mobile carriers have something to say about this move, as the Washington Post did report that the proposed super Wi-Fi network is going to be so powerful, consumers might even be able to make use of these to perform calls or even surf the Internet without having to fork out a single cent for their cellphone bill any more.

It would be interesting to see where the line will be drawn, as wireless carriers work alongside networking equipment companies like Cisco, will naturally oppose such plans. On the other hand, you have parties such as Microsoft and Google who would want to see an increase in access to the Internet, which indirectly results in more traffic to their respective online services. I am quite sure that both sides of the divide are able to exist nicely with one another without cannibalizing on their respective areas of service.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple Might Integrated Solar Cell Multitouch Panels In Future Devices, Android Runtime To Support Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Soon,