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Microsoft wants to improve internet in rural areas: High Speed Internet Over TV White Signal.

GoodBytes

Microsoft announces plans on Tuesday to improve the Internet access in rural areas in the US, by sending the internet signal over empty digital antenna (over the air) TV channel.

 

In rural areas, Internet access is very expensive and very slow. The problem is that homes are spread out too far from each other. This results in too few customers to pay in the long run the equipment needed, installation and cable maintenance. People in rural areas have to rely on Satellite internet, which is extremely slow compared to what is available via wired, or on old DSL technologies, which provides even potentially slower speeds. The reason why DSL is slow, is because it was deployed ages ago thanks to government subsidies, or done recently but done on a tight budget due to the overall high cost, and what companies/government can afford.

 

Microsoft brings a crazy idea... as most rural homes have an powerful outdoor antenna to get digital TV (analogue over the air TV is no longer available in the US, as well as many regions over the world), they have developed technologies to beam internet using the same technology as digital TV over the air broadcast. This means, it won't affect digital TVs, and allow rural areas to get Internet up to 25Mbps downloads.

 

TV white spaces that are unused in the US, are in the frequency n the 600 MHz range. This allows Internet signal at acceptable speed to be transfers over large distances. Microsoft is creating a, what it calls, "Rural Airband Initiative". It will invest in partnerships with telecommunications companies to install this in 12 states over the next 12 months. All in all, the investment will be 10 billion dollars US.

 

Quote

Unused TV white spaces operating in the 600 MHz frequency range will be repurposed for Microsoft's projects, and these frequencies have enough bandwidth to help deliver internet to thousands of homes. Microsoft is using it’s using previous experience deploying white spaces projects in 17 different countries to execute its ambitious plans. “At Microsoft, we’re prepared to invest our own resources to help serve as a catalyst for broader market adoption of this new model,” says Brad Smith, Microsoft’s chief legal officer. Microsoft is creating a Rural Airband Initiative that will invest in partnerships with telecommunications companies to create 12 projects in 12 states over the next 12 months.

 

These are regions:

12_State_Pilots_2.png

 

Microsoft investment involves connecting 2 million people, and with the help of partners reach 20 million.

Microsoft said that it doesn't want to be in telecommunication business, so don't expect getting an internet subscription from Microsoft if you are in a rural area.

 

Microsoft says:

Quote

Our goal is not to enter the telecommunications business ourselves or even to profit directly from these projects. We will invest in the upfront capital projects needed to expand broadband coverage, seek a revenue share from operators to recoup our investment, and then use these revenue proceeds to invest in additional projects to expand coverage further. We’re confident that this approach is good for the country and even for our business. After all, if 23 million additional customers can access the internet at broadband speeds, every tech company in America will benefit.

 

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Of course, the FCC can block all this. Microsoft is asking the FCC to keep 3 channels under 700MHz reserved for this purpose, available in all over the country.

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Microsoft wants the FCC to ensure that at least three channels below 700 MHz are kept unlicensed in all markets in the US, with additional TV white spaces for even smaller markets and rural areas. Microsoft also wants to see increased funding with infrastructure investments targeted towards broadband coverage in rural areas and improved data collection for rural broadband coverage.

 

So how much it will cost, and what speed we they will get:

  • Customer will need to pay ~$1,000 US in equipment, possibly a bit more (This is probably due to the the broadcasting needed (uploads), and unique small market in producing the equipment). However, Microsoft estimate the cost to drop to $200 by next year.
  • Access to the service is unknown, it will depend on the ISP.
  • Speed can reach up to 25MBps

 

Source 1: https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/11/15953310/microsoft-rural-airband-broadband-strategy

Source 2: http://gizmodo.com/microsofts-plan-to-beam-internet-over-tv-frequencies-is-1796805046

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You're still the top MS news source here xD

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I was sort of thinking it would be done outside of the US, but it's nice to see that they're at least trying it somewhere. If it was outside of the US and perhaps in a third world country, I would've thought $1000 was expensive, but I guess it's okay to take all the American farmers' money instead.

 

Also, Bytes, commas: 

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People in rural areas have to rely on Satellite internet, which is extremely slow compared to what is available via wired, or go, at best, slow, old, internet via old technologies that was deployed ages ago thanks to government subsidies, or done recently but very low cost (cheap equipment, poor cable quality) resulting in low speeds, due to the overall high cost, and what companies/government can afford.

It's hard to read this paragraph sentence lol

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15 minutes south of me the DSL is so bad the speeds are near dial up and the ping times often exceed 1000 ms, causing dropped connections. Essentially good dial up is more useful than whats avaible south of me. 

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Interesting they want to do this in the Dakotas since a lot of the rural places I know there have MidCo, which now has gigabit speeds

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8 minutes ago, Eaglerino said:

Interesting they want to do this in the Dakotas since a lot of the rural places I know there have MidCo, which now has gigabit speeds

Is it affordable however?

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I won't hold my breath but more competition is always better.  Right now the only methods available to many in rural america are satellite (sucks), Dial up (sucks more), and Mobile Data (hit or miss).

 

 

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insert me complaining about -117 lte basically anywhere or -92 3g anywhere

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Inb4 someone finds a way to siphon people's data off of it.

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3 hours ago, theninja35 said:

It's hard to read this paragraph sentence short essay lol

Fixed it.

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Everybody turns to dust.

 

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...Crud...no Alabama.

I would kill to have those speeds.

 

But yeah, cost going to be the major factor.  Looks like they may be basing off some of the systems that Ham Radio (currently studying) does.  Still wonder how the bandwidth usage of that frequency range will be to hit those speeds (depending if they use AM, SSB, FM, or PM).

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4 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

Unused TV white spaces operating in the 600 MHz frequency range will be repurposed for Microsoft's projects, and these frequencies have enough bandwidth to help deliver internet to thousands of homes.

Wouldn't that interfere with some wireless carriers like T-Mobile? I know that they've just acquired the rights from FCC to use the 600 MHz spectrum in expanding their LTE coverage. If both of them operate on the same frequency, wouldn't that cancel each other? 

 

https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/t-mobiles-new-600-mhz-network-rollout-begins-this-summer.htm

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22 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

Wouldn't that interfere with some wireless carriers like T-Mobile? I know that they've just acquired the rights from FCC to use the 600 MHz spectrum in expanding their LTE coverage. If both of them operate on the same frequency, wouldn't that cancel each other? 

 

https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/t-mobiles-new-600-mhz-network-rollout-begins-this-summer.htm

I'm sure T-Mobile (and others) aren't using the entire 600Mhz spectrum, especially not all in one area.  It would be very easy for each area to have an assigned frequency/range they can operate in.

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22 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

Wouldn't that interfere with some wireless carriers like T-Mobile? I know that they've just acquired the rights from FCC to use the 600 MHz spectrum in expanding their LTE coverage. If both of them operate on the same frequency, wouldn't that cancel each other? 

 

https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/t-mobiles-new-600-mhz-network-rollout-begins-this-summer.htm

Not necessarily, "600Mhz" spectrum is everything from 600 to 699 MHz. Tmobile's portion is between 617MHz and 698MHz. The fact the "max" is 25Mbps, is probably partially because that leaves less than 17Mhz of bandwidth for this usage. 2.4GHz wifi is 20+ Mhz for example, however that is capable of speeds beyond 25Mbps. 

 

The highest remaining DTV 600Mhz frequencies are Channel 36 (602-608MHz) and 37 (608-614MHz). 

 

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1 hour ago, Ithanul said:

Ham Radio (currently studying) does.  Still wonder how the bandwidth usage of that frequency range will be to hit those speeds (depending if they use AM, SSB, FM, or PM).

Good luck on your test (KE7DUX here). 

 

Looking at the 600MHz bandplan, they have less than 17MHz bandwidth to work with. Most of the rest is used by the new 600MHz cellular systems. 

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http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2016/11/white-space-tech-brings-wireless-broadband-island-scotland.html

 

Already deployed it abit over here, it uses gaps in the spectrum that are left to prevent interference.

 

So it shouldn't require its own chunk of spectrum it just slots into these small gaps.

 

 

 

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32 minutes ago, d3sl91 said:

Not necessarily, "600Mhz" spectrum is everything from 600 to 699 MHz. Tmobile's portion is between 617MHz and 698MHz. The fact the "max" is 25Mbps, is probably partially because that leaves less than 17Mhz of bandwidth for this usage. 2.4GHz wifi is 20+ Mhz for example, however that is capable of speeds beyond 25Mbps. 

 

The highest remaining DTV 600Mhz frequencies are Channel 36 (602-608MHz) and 37 (608-614MHz). 

I think it would've been better if Microsoft used frequencies above 1GHz since they can carry way more data. Yes, it has shorter coverage but it can be solved by deploying small cell antennas or femtocells. 

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3 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

I think it would've been better if Microsoft used frequencies above 1GHz since they can carry way more data. Yes, it has shorter coverage but it can be solved by deploying small cell antennas or femtocells. 

The reasoning was probably because this is aimed at rural areas.  Using the lower end spectrum makes it easier to deploy, without having to invest a ton into new hardware to carry the signal (which many companies aren't willing to do in rural areas, due to the smaller populations).

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Did that say... K... Kansas?

 

As long as the ping isn't high then I'm ready because my internet speed is currently 2mbps down and like 0.5mbps up!

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They use a shit load of gaps in the spectrum and aggregate it.

 

Also lower frequency = higher range this techs proven to work over 5km.

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so basically microsoft wants to become similar to a cable ISP and join the coalition of the usual greedy ISPs.

I know its over the old antennas but still this is over TV. The concept is good but its going to depend on the application, and we've seen how much more xbox costs monthly than ps.

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Using up very valuable spectrum space for something fairly niche, expensive and that doesn't sound very good is not a good idea if you ask me.

I would rather see that spectrum go towards something with broader appeal, like 4G and 5G improvements.

 

Wouldn't it be better to just invest it improving the xDSL infrastructure? That way you won't need to rely on expensive equipment at the customer nor taking up parts of the radio spectrum which could be used for other things.

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How would that even work. I thought TV signals were mainly one way, as in, it gets to you, but you don't really get to interact back with it? Especially if it's over the air, I mean, your antenna isn't really made for broadcasting back over long distance no? Unless I'm missing something here.

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1 hour ago, System Error Message said:

so basically microsoft wants to become similar to a cable ISP and join the coalition of the usual greedy ISPs.

I know its over the old antennas but still this is over TV. The concept is good but its going to depend on the application, and we've seen how much more xbox costs monthly than ps.

As mentioned, they won't provide the service. You'll need to sign up with whoever company partnered with MS for the area you are in. Price will vary, hence why Microsoft has no pricing information either.

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