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Technology Corner: The wireless spectrum is a limited resource

George Adomavicius
Citizen Journalist

With all the competition we hear between the main wireless providers (Verizon, AT&T and Sprint) about speed and reach, one needs to be aware of a limitation not often discussed when these services are marketed.

George Adomavicius

Broadband wireless is a finite resource that can run out just like other resources we cannot easily replace, such as oil. In contrast, wired Internet seems limitless. The promise of the Information Superhighway is real to almost every individual now in some fashion. And if your speed and capacity weren’t enough, you could order more at a reasonable price. From dial-up 56 KB, you upgraded to cable modem or DSL. If that “runs out,” there will be something faster — over a wire at least.

If there isn’t enough wired bandwidth in your neighborhood, then AT&T could dig up and upgrade the underground cable. New communities are served by fiber optic cables. Some even have fiber optic to the household. During the dot-com boom, lots of fiber cable was laid out and even strung across the oceans, still waiting to be “lit-up” as it was built to excess capacity at that time.

So the wired Internet is a little like the interstate highway infrastructure started in the 1950s. It was built to future capacity, and more could be added in the future: There could be more east-west and north-south trunks, and the individual highways could be widened, from the initial four lanes to six, eight or even 12 lanes.

We have plenty of capacity in the wired Internet and in its growth potential.

But cell phones and smartphones have put an interesting strain on the wireless spectrum. So let’s talk about that spectrum first.

The electromagnetic spectrum is measured in frequency, and its use is divided for various services. One range is deemed radio and is governed by a federal agency, National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission. This radio range is roughly in the 10 kHz to hundreds of MHz range.

Above that we get into light frequencies: ultraviolet, infrared and x-ray. Yes, these are all electromagnetic waves, if you recall some basic physics.

What we knew, from analog TV as VHF and UHF, was a range of frequencies that was good for sending low-power signals over a long distance, a capability that is definitely in high demand today. FM radio and aircraft communications also compete for this space. And the new market entrants got a slice: cell phones and digital wireless devices (iPhones and Blackberries).

Well, there’s not a lot of room there.

It’s no wonder you are asked to turn off your cell phone on the airplane as the airplane-to-ground and airplane-to-airplane communications share that same section of the wireless spectrum.

The advent of 4G (higher speed for digital devices) required a bigger chunk of that spectrum. That’s why we moved to digital TV. We could cram more, and better, TV into less bandwidth and give some of that bandwidth over to the newer services.

That would be all well and good if the capacity it delivered matched the anticipated demand, like the Interstate Highway example I gave earlier.

But man is a social and unpredictable animal, and the impacts of the social instinct do not bear well under some scientific modeling and forecasts.

The advent and exponential popularity of Twitter and Facebook were not anticipated. It turns out that the constant polling to keep up-to-date, even if there is nothing new to send, is significant traffic in and of itself. It’s like constantly dialing your phone until somebody answers. The dial-and-ring traffic is burdensome. That constant idle time polling consumes valuable capacity.

Data-intensive applications like YouTube can choke the Internet capacity; and iPhones with true Internet-browse capability, combined with flat rates services for data from carriers, have truly unleashed a bandwidth-gobbling monster.

I have seen some estimates that the consumption of wireless bandwidth will grow by 6,000 percent in the next three to four years. That will just about consume current capacity.

So you are definitely good for now to go and get that new iPhone or equivalent. And the $50 to $60 flat rate per month unlimited data charge is sure attractive.

But you could anticipate some performance issues if your carrier does not keep his part of the infrastructure up, as it’s an investment on their part. And it’s possible the pricing or delivery structure may have to change in the future if capacity is reached — not unlike raising gas prices on another limited resource.

Supply and demand economics may control the wireless broadband much sooner than wired, so don’t get rid of your wired Internet access just yet.

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