Spectrum licenses map

[ericdabbs]

I forgot which poster posted this link to spectrum licenses for all the carriers but I thought this map was really useful to see what licenses each carrier has and what ares it covers. The map looks pretty legit and accurate but I would have to leave that up to AJ and Robert to decide on that.

 

I found it interesting that ATT had 3/4 nation covered with WCS spectrum and Sprint has a tiny bit of WCS spectrum in the southeast region. I think Sprint should sell the WCS spectrum to AT&T so that it can have nationwide spectrum OR exchange it for some PCS spectrum (highly unlikely) in some markets where Sprint only has 10-20 MHz of PCS spectrum. I don't see what Sprint would do with that WCS spectrum unless the FCC plans on expanding the WCS band wider.

 

http://specmap.sequence-omega.net/

[MacinJosh]

I don't think the WCS spectrum is worth much right now and that could be the reason Sprint is holding on to it.

[ericdabbs]

The thing is what is Sprint going to do with the WCS spectrum anyways if it has a small chunk in only the southeast region. Either the FCC needs to expand the WCS spectrum band or Sprint needs to buy the WCS spectrum licenses from AT&T.

 

This is the reason why AT&T and Verizon has not deployed LTE on AWS spectrum yet because they are trying to acquire enough spectrum for nationwide deployment. I really think the FCC needs to do a better job of not selling small 2-3 MHz chunks of spectrum to carriers and should only be selling spectrum in 5 or 10 MHz chunks. If you look at the map in the link you realize how all carriers have small chunks of spectrum from every single band that is currently being wasted since they don't have enough for full deployment.

[WiWavelength]

Eric, I give the creator of that spectrum mapping site tons of credit for as much as he has accomplished. However, the site is really only good for a "broad brush," big picture look at wireless spectrum holdings. Unfortunately, the site does not accurately reflect partitions and disaggregations. In other words, if a license has been subdivided -- geographically, electromagnetically, or both -- the site ascribes that license to both/all licensed carriers. Thus, many of the spectrum maps that the site generates are not particularly accurate.

 

AJ

[jegillis]

WCS Spectrum is completely worthless

 

"The uplink and downlink portions of the WCS spectrum band are separated by the DARS spectrum used for Sirius satellite radio. As a result, the WCS spectrum is subject to power limits and guard band requirements designed to protect these delicate satellite signals. Unfortunately, this renders the spectrum useless for mobility. Thus, outside of a few limited wireless broadband tests, the WCS spectrum remains as un-utilized today as it was when it was first licensed."

http://wirelessspectrumreview.com/wireless-spectrum-bands/wcs/

 

ATT had been trying to sell theres as well but doesn't appear to have any commercial value.

[ericdabbs]

WCS Spectrum is completely worthless

 

"The uplink and downlink portions of the WCS spectrum band are separated by the DARS spectrum used for Sirius satellite radio. As a result, the WCS spectrum is subject to power limits and guard band requirements designed to protect these delicate satellite signals. Unfortunately, this renders the spectrum useless for mobility. Thus, outside of a few limited wireless broadband tests, the WCS spectrum remains as un-utilized today as it was when it was first licensed."

http://wirelessspect...trum-bands/wcs/

 

ATT had been trying to sell theres as well but doesn't appear to have any commercial value.

 

You are right the WCS spectrum is pretty much worthless. Unfortunately in this day and age with mobile broadband speeds booming there is a huge demand for mobile services spectrum. I am not an expert in satellite communications but does it really need to use a lower frequency in the 2.3 Ghz band?

 

I feel like the 2305-2320 MHz and 2345 -2360 MHz spectrum is wasted due to Siri operating in 2320-2345 MHz. I wish there was a way to move Siri farther out in the band so that the WCS band from 2305-2360 MHz could be used for mobile broadband.

[digiblur]

SiriusXM also has some high power ground based repeaters in their band that could cause issues with others near them. I have even heard of them causing issues with wisps on the same tower.

[jegillis]

You are right the WCS spectrum is pretty much worthless. Unfortunately in this day and age with mobile broadband speeds booming there is a huge demand for mobile services spectrum. I am not an expert in satellite communications but does it really need to use a lower frequency in the 2.3 Ghz band?

 

I feel like the 2305-2320 MHz and 2345 -2360 MHz spectrum is wasted due to Siri operating in 2320-2345 MHz. I wish there was a way to move Siri farther out in the band so that the WCS band from 2305-2360 MHz could be used for mobile broadband.

 

Would be nice but needed to start that way, satellites are pretty expensive to be changing how it is allocated now.

[briankwest]

Wouldn't WCS make great PtP links for clusters of towers?

 

/b

[WiWavelength]

Wouldn't WCS make great PtP links for clusters of towers?

 

Carriers already hold much larger bandwidth point to point microwave licenses for wireless backhaul.

 

AJ

[briankwest]

Carriers already hold much larger bandwidth point to point microwave licenses for wireless backhaul.

 

AJ

 

Would be nice to have that data on the spectrum map too.

 

/b

[WiWavelength]

Would be nice to have that data on the spectrum map too.

 

Highly doubtful. Microwave backhaul links are the information superhighways of the sky. There are tens of thousands of them nationwide, as they are licensed point to point, and frequencies are reused enormously. So, mapping microwave links would be a ridiculously large and fruitless task.

 

AJ

[NGeorge]

Highly doubtful. Microwave backhaul links are the information superhighways of the sky. There are tens of thousands of them nationwide, as they are licensed point to point, and frequencies are reused enormously. So, mapping microwave links would be a ridiculously large and fruitless task.

 

AJ

 

A lot of the microwave backhaul has moved up to the 60-80 ghz. range where they can have many hundreds of mhz. wide channels... if you have dead perfect line of sight it's pretty nice -- the radios are able to automatically adapt the bandwidth to deal with rain, snow, fog and pretty much anything that will interfere with signals that high.