Computer Hope
Other => Other => Topic started by: Geek-9pm on October 04, 2017, 10:55:23 PM
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Full title is:
Security agencies red flag Microsoft’s White Space Technology for rural internet
White Space in this context means radio or television spectrum that is not used in some places.
The idea of bring Internet to everyone is very attractive. In some places there never will be a full house of TV channels to choose. Some rural areas might have one TV repeater in the VHF band. The old technology was to have channels 2 tru 13 available. Normally this would let ch. 2 4 5 7 9 11 13 in on town and the others, 3 6 8 10 12, in the next town.Yeah, but that never happens in areas with sparse population. (The article below may have some technical flaws, but don't stop reading because of that.)
So the idea of using these for Internet was started. Microsoft and others supported it. OK, so what has happened?
This report is critical of the plan because of security worry.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/security-agencies-red-flag-microsofts-white-space-technology-for-rural-internet/articleshow/60947121.cms
MUMBAI: Microsoft’s attempts to roll out White Space Technology for providing rural internet connectivity seems to have run in to rough weather with the country’s security agencies raising a red flag over extensive use of the technology, Maharashtra government officials told ET.
Television networks have unused broadcasting frequencies between channels which is kept idle for buffering purposes. This space can be used to deliver internet services and is called the White Space ....
Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/60947121.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
I think the article is worth reading. Kudos to Microsoft for giving it a try.
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Out my way in somewhat rural New Hampshire where we only have Channel 3 on a good day with a good antenna fortunately Cable TV has been connected thru here for the last 25 years and I have broadband cable internet; however there are still many people around me who dont have cable as for the cable runs along main roads and more populated rural areas. When buying my home I wanted to be off the beaten path but also close enough to have broadband and not to far of a drive to work. There is a mix of people using broadband and cable TV and Dish Network, but there are also some people using Ubiquiti Networks AirMAX internet that I have only seen at DSL speeds, these run in my area around 2mbps/2mbps in which they have a range of 15 kM or so and a rated speed of 150mbps+
My area is full of rolling mountains and valleys and so location is key in getting the AirMAX with Ubiquiti Networks to work or not. My brother bought a house a few years ago deep in the woods 12 miles out on a narrow dirt road into the sticks and he was getting 2mbps/2mbps with the NanoStation M365 and oddly he wasnt paying for internet so either it was free, the internet provider was sloppy in not shutting it off, or the prior home owners were still fetching the bill for its connectivity. When EC Fiber decided to make a path through his neighborhood he got on board with that in which there was a significant cost to getting a fiber feed to his house but it was way better than the 2mbps/2mbps AirMAX. Cell towers are also too far away to use 3G or 4G from his location. He detached this device from his house and gave it to me to have and check out. I was hoping it would connect from where I was at and maybe get better than 2mbps/2mbps for free ;D But no uplink. There are no providers within range of me able to get over mountains to me -or- the provider finally killed the free service to this device. :P
Here is info on the AirMAX : https://www.ubnt.com/airmax/nanostationm/
And here is ECFiber who is spreading out to try to take back some area already covered by Broadband and DSL with their faster fiber, which for people like my brother who dont have a Broadband or DSL option was a sweet high speed internet opportunity when they cut through his neck of the woods and he was able to tap into the fiber: https://www.ecfiber.net/
He gets a 200mbps connection over fiber for $116 a month + $8 monthly charge for the Optical Network Termination Device ( $124.00 ) with ECFiber now.
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Thanks for the reply. The idea of using white space for rural Internet is still a valid idea. As you point out, there is some kind of problem with deployment.
I don't want to make some kind of political statement, but this kind of service have to be managed and organized by some state or county agency that will see to it that it works right. However, the broadcast band frequencies used for television are controlled by the FCC. So that makes for some difficulty with a practical political method of controlling the local usage of the whitespace frequencies.
In this context, the term whitespace, can mean whatever you have a TV channel that's just snow and noise and no visible picture information. A low level transponder on such a blank channel is not going to interfere with anything because there's nothing there to interfere with. That seemed to be so logical and clear, yet the SEC and other entities have difficulty in putting this concept into practice. A low-power transponder, say something like a 10 W transponder, is not going to cause interference to some television station that's over 100 miles away.
As you mentioned, such transponders would have to be elevated in order to get over some of the hills and mountains and wooded areas. This is a capital investment problem, building a tower over about 30 feet high above average crown gets to be rather expensive. And is also subject to rules by other agencies.
However, if fiber optic can be widely distributed, the whitespace could be used as what they call the last mile connection. If a fiber optic station is available within a mile of a household, then a whitespace transponder could be used to finish the last mile going 1 mile with a VHF transponder running less than 1 W of output power. Provided there is almost a line of sight path. The advantage of using VHF is that it does a good job of penetrated through foliage and obstacles on a short run.
However, at the present time those in power already have a full plate of lots of other things that need to be done. So it looks like the white space idea is just going to have to wait for another time.
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Biggest thing is that someone needs to fetch the bill and the return on investment isnt really there I am thinking.
Other issues arise with how its used. For some reason it just feels like something like this would be the ultimate network for hackers to get on and do whatever and go hidden again and location anywhere.
Right now there is generally a little more to go on such as the strange vehicle parked outside someones home and a wardriver using someones wifi that isnt so secured to do something illegal etc and a neighbors security cameras getting a plate number etc. But if they can be anywhere and everywhere its the ultimate network for those who want to be hidden and they are smart enough to remove the battery or shut off the device as soon as they are done doing whatever to stop broadcasting and go back into hiding etc.