A federal appeals court has upheld most of the Federal Communications Commission's decision to open the 6-GHz band to unlicensed use.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in a decision handed down Tuesday (December 28), said that the FCC conclusion on the risk of harmful interference was just the sort of technical call that the court owes "significant deference."

The FCC voted unanimously in April 2020 to allow the entire 1,200 Megahertz of the 6-GHz band to be shared with unlicensed WiFi, at the time the FCC's latest move in freeing up more spectrum for connecting 5G in-home devices — video streaming, video calls — and connecting internet of things (IoT) devices to the internet. Cable operators and technology companies supported the move. 

The D.C. Circuit said those challenging the decision had not provided a basis for challenging the FCC's conclusions that that could be done without "a significant risk of harmful interference."

Also: Utilities Seek FCC Stay of 6 GHz Order

While the court denied the petitions to review in most respects, it did say the FCC had not sufficiently responded to a request from broadcasters that it reserve a sliver of the band exclusively for mobile licensees, so the commission will have to get back to the court with a "further explanation" on that point.

Utility companies, broadcasters and public safety, all incumbent users of the band, pushed back on the FCC's no-harm, no-foul conclusion. Just this month, utility companies asked the FCC to stay the order until the court weighed in.

Petitioning the court to reverse the FCC decision were AT&T, Lumen Technologies, electric utilities, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International (APCO), and the National Association of Broadcasters.

Broadcasters had argued for protecting the electronic news gathering (ENG) already using the band by reserving an 80 MHz sliver for them, saying there was too much risk of harmful interference to that even-more-crucial service in a time of pandemic.

But FCC engineers concluded that the band could be shared and ENG (and utility companies) protected, with the conditions the FCC had imposed. All the FCC commissioners agreed, but at least on the point of a sliver for mobile licensees, the court did not.

"Today’s decision is an important step in clearing the way for next generation WiFi access at a time when it is needed most," said FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. "In this pandemic so much of modern life has migrated online. Six-GHz WiFi will help us address this challenge by offering more access in more places, faster speeds, and better performance from our WiFi networks.  It will also help us in our mission to connect everyone, everywhere.  That’s good for consumers, for broadband deployment, and for the nation’s wireless economy. 

"I want to thank the outstanding professionals in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel for their strong defense of the FCC’s work in this proceeding, as well as the Office of Engineering and Technology and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau for their careful and expert work in addressing the complex technical issues presented in the record. It is encouraging to read the Court’s strong approval of this work and we look forward to addressing on remand the narrow issue that the court identified.”

“NCTA is gratified that the D.C. Circuit has upheld virtually all of the Federal Communications Commission’s 6 GHz Order," said NCTA–The Internet & Television Association, the cable broadband industry group. "Because of the Commission’s unanimous, bipartisan 6 GHz Order, U.S. consumers will soon have greater access to next-generation Wi-Fi technology to meet their rapidly growing need for broadband internet access. The Commission’s carefully crafted technical rules ensure that these new technologies, which are already entering the marketplace, can flourish without causing harmful interference to licensed users in the band. The Court’s decision on the Commission’s 6 GHz Order, while seeking further explanation of one narrow issue, is a victory for consumers, businesses, and the U.S. economy. We hope and expect that the Commission will promptly clarify the single limited issue on remand.”

"The Court’s decision is a starting gun for completing the rulemaking so that consumers can fully benefit from this historic expansion of unlicensed spectrum," said Michael Calabrese, director, Wireless Future Project at New America. "The Commission’s remaining challenge is to increase the indoor power levels to allow whole-home Wi-Fi and to authorize the very-low-power peripheral devices that will make this band fully functional for AR, VR and other innovation.

"The FCC’s world-leading 6 GHz Order allows every American consumer, business, school and venue to use 5G-quality applications, including augmented and virtual reality on mobile devices, provided they have access to a high-capacity fixed internet connection."

Calabrese also wanted to provide the FCC some help in explaining why it did not reserve the spectrum broadcasters had asked.

“The Court’s remand is far narrower and easily explained," Calabrese said. "In fact, the answer to the Court’s question is implicit in the FCC’s bipartisan goal to generate enormous future benefit for consumers and the economy by opening very wide and contiguous channels that will power the next two generations of gigabit-fast Wi-Fi technology."

"The D.C. Circuit’s opinion upholding the vast majority of the FCC’s 6 GHz Order is welcome news to WISPA’s fixed wireless operator members," said Louis Peraertz, VP of policy for WISPA, the wireless internet service providers association. "In rejecting more than a dozen technical arguments from several petitioners, the Court deferred to the FCC in the exercise of its engineering judgment. The D.C. Circuit remanded, however, a portion of the 6-GHz Order for not adequately responding to the request of licensed broadcasters that the Commission reserve a 'sliver' of the 6-GHz band for mobile licensees because of the interference they faced in the 2.4-GHz band. We look forward to the FCC resolving this and the remaining technical issues in the pending Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proceeding so the Agency can finalize its decision to unlock the 6 GHz band for unlicensed standard power use for outdoor operations." ■

Comcast said it will extend its COVID-19-related commitments to keep folks connected.

It said that means it will provide free internet for the first 60 days for new Internet Essentials subs and continue to provide free access to its over 1.5 million Wi-Fi hotspots to anyone who needs them.

Related: Comcast Opening Wi-Fi Hotspots to All

The commitment will extend through June 30, 2021.

It is the third time that the company has extended those commitments, it pointed out.

“Our teams have worked tirelessly to ensure our network is operating at peak performance and help our customers and our communities navigate this unprecedented crisis,” said Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson in a statement. “For nearly a decade, we’ve been on a mission to ensure students have the resources they need to be successful. We have accelerated that work during COVID-19 by partnering with public schools to provide Internet for more low-income students and by working with community centers to create safe spaces for families to connect to free Wi-Fi through Lift Zones.”

Comcast has also teamed up with Common Sense Media to provide thousands of ours of free educational programming for its Xfinity video subs.

Cable operators are OK with the "divide and conquer" approach to the 5.9 GHz band.

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association has expressed its strong support for the FCC's proposal for freeing up spectrum in the band for Wi-Fi. That came in a Webex meeting with a legal advisor to FCC commissioner Brendan Carr Friday (Nov. 6).

FCC chairman Ajit Pai two weeks ago circulated draft rules that would free up the majority (the lower 45 MHz) of the 5.9 GHz band for wireless broadband while transitioning the remaining upper 30 MHz to the latest iteration of Intelligent transport system (ITS) vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications and cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technology.

V2V has had licensed claim to the entire band, but the FCC concluded 35 MHz would suffice and that Wi-Fi could live side-by-side with V2V, something auto makers have said was not the case.

NCTA had pushed for allowing the entire 75 MHz to be shared with V2V, but told the FCC last week it strongly supported the split band approach, which is called "a good compromise that is a win for American Wi-Fi and automotive consumers."

It also strongly supported the FCC's conclusion that ITS needs no more than 30 MHz of dedicated spectrum to support its safety operations and its assertion that the order's technical rules will "fully protect" incumbents in that 30 MHZ from interference.

NCTA did offer some tweaks to the draft order, including clarifying that Wi-Fi range extenders can operate at the maximum power levels as other Wi-Fi access points and to eliminate what it said was an overly protective approach to the "solid set" of technical rules that will prevent any interference to incumbents transitioning out of the lower 45 MHz.

Cable broadband operators said they can't open their Wi-Fi networks for 911 access during times of emergency when wireless networks are down because they don't have the capability of routing 911 calls or texts or even identifying them among other network traffic.

In comments to the FCC, which asked about such whether such use should be required (per its implementation of the RAY BAUM's Act), NCTA-the Internet & Television Association said its members voluntarily open their Wi-Fi access points (APs) at no cost in emergencies to allowing people to remain connected over the 'net--as they have during COVID-19 for students.

But NCTA told the FCC that the technical limitations of Wi-Fi infrastructure and user devices would make a requirement that Wi-Fi APs open automatically for public access to provide 911 in emergencies when mobile nets are down is "technically unworkable."

It said that while Wi-Fi APs are equipped to provide internet connection in emergencies, that is only after users register and only where power and backhaul is available--it said that "the vast majority of residential customers do not have any such back-up power to enable operation of Wi-Fi APs when power is out."

"Notably, Wi-Fi APs lack mechanisms to facilitate 911 call routing and location services without the support of a mobile network, and in fact cannot distinguish between 911 calls or texts and other data traffic transiting the Wi-Fi network," NCTA said.

In addition, it said, "the Wi-Fi ecosystem’s decentralized array of service providers, access points, and devices lacks the capabilities to allow for automatic, secure identification and authentication of devices with Wi-Fi networks." That would mean a host of privacy and security concerns would have to be addressed before allowing for automatic and unauthenticated connections.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was celebrating Thursday (Oct. 1) after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied emergency stays sought by AT&T and others of the FCC's decision to open the 6 GHZ band for unlicensed Wi-Fi, something cable broadband operators have been pushing for.

AT&T, Verizon and other telecoms, as well utility companies, use the spectrum for backhaul and while the telecoms are all for expanding Wi-Fi, suggested opening up the entire band without what they argued were sufficient protections for incumbents, was the wrong way to do it.

The court will still hear the underlying challenge of telecoms, public safety officials, and utilities to the FCC order, but won't stay the decision in the interim.

Pai tweeted that the court's decision was "great news for consumers," whom he said would benefit from the "super-fast" Wi-Fi.

The court is giving the parties 30 days to submit a joint proposal for filing briefs in the case.

In August, the FCC denied petitions by public safety officials and utilities to stay its decision to open up the entire band. Cable ops and computer companies are squarely behind the FCC.

The FCC voted unanimously April 23 to allow the entire 1,200 MHz of the 6 GHz band to be shared with unlicensed Wi-Fi, the FCC's latest move in freeing up more spectrum for connecting 5G in-home devices--video streaming, video calls--and connecting IoT devices to the internet.

"In the midst of the national COVID-19 crisis when many Americans are relying on low-cost Wi-Fi for bandwidth intensive work, school, medicine and other accommodations, the FCC's 6 GHz rules are critical to meet the growing demand for Wi‑Fi connectivity while at the same time protecting public safety and utility operations," said the Wi-Fi Alliance. "[We] will continue to support the FCC in its effort to defend the public benefits generated by affordable unlicensed connectivity that technologies like Wi-Fi will deliver in the 6 GHz band."

“The court’s ruling is great news for the tens of millions of workers and students who may be learning and working from home well into next year," said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program of the Open Technology Institute. "For those with fixed broadband connections, the capacity of Wi-Fi is becoming the biggest constraint on high-capacity connectivity. If the FCC adopts the somewhat higher power level it is considering for indoor-only use, consumers and the economy will benefit from affordable and gigabit-fast Wi-Fi early next year.”

The FCC has denied petitions by public safety and utility organizations to stay its decision to open up the entire 6 GHz band for unlicensed WiFi use pending judicial review.

In an order issued Thursday, from Ronald Repasi, acting chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology, the FCC said that neither the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) nor the Association of PublicSafety Communications Officials-International, Inc (APCO) had shown they were likely to win their case on the merits, had not shown their members would suffer irreparable harm absent a stay, had not shown that others would not be harmed by a stay, or that the stay was in the public interest, all of which boxes need to be checked to earn a stay.  

Both are seeking court review of the FCC's order. 

OET pointed out that the FCC had taken two-and-a-half years to come up with a way to accommodate shared use of the band, and was under pressure from Congress to free up more spectrum for unlicensed. It had reviewed over 150 comments, including from APCO and EEI, before making its decision on a way forward, OET pointed out. 

"We find that both APCO and EEI have failed to demonstrate that the extraordinary equitable relief of a stay is warranted," it concluded. OET pointed to the deference courts generally accord FCC technical judgments as one reason APCO and EEI were unlikely to succeed on the merits. 

The FCC voted unanimously April 23 to allow the entire 1200 MHz of the 6 GHz band to be shared with unlicensed WiFi, the FCC's latest move in freeing up more spectrum for connecting 5G in-home devices--video streaming, video calls--and connecting IoT devices to the internet.   

Related: NCTA, OTI Oppose 6 GHz Recon Petitions 

While APCO withdrew its petition for reconsideration at the FCC it did not withdraw its stay petition. The FCC said the former arguably mooted the latter, but it would address APCO's arguments as well as EEI's. 

"OET made the right decision today to deny the petitions of EEI and APCO to stay the FCC’s 6 GHz Order," said Louis Peraertz, VP of policy at the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA). "The Commission made a thorough examination of the 6 GHz proceeding, which was open, diverse and robust, and properly chose not to require AFC for low power indoor devices or location-accuracy requirements for standard-power access points to define exclusion zones in the band...We look forward to the Commission’s resolution of the remaining issues which includes WISPA’s request that the agency allow standard-power access points used in fixed point-to-point applications to operate at higher power levels." 

The FCC's decision to allow unlicensed Wi-Fi operations in the 6 GHz band came with a prohibition on communications between indoor devices--screen-casting, wearables, monitors--but the Wi-Fi Alliance wants to change that.

The FCC in April voted unanimously to allow the entire 1,200 MHz of the 6 GHz band to be shared with unlicensed Wi-Fi, the FCC's latest move in freeing up more spectrum for connecting 5G in-home devices--video streaming, video calls--and connecting IoT devices to the internet.

Wi-Fi continues to be cable operators' principal mobile broadband play.

In comments to the FCC this week, the alliance, whose members include Apple, Comcast, Samsung, Microsoft and LG, said that they understood that the prohibition was out of concern that connections between a device tethered to an access point and another that was not could increase the distance from the access point and thus the possibility of interference to electronic newsgathering and other incumbent uses of the 6 GHz band.  

But the alliance said that was an unnecessary constraint on the multiple use cases for client-to-client communications because the devices can be prevented from distancing themselves from access points while communicating. 

To that effect, the alliance suggested changing this language: "Client devices are prohibited from connecting directly to another client device," to: "Client devices are permitted to connect directly to another client device only while receiving an enabling signal from an indoor access point." 

Broadcasters argue that the alliance and others pitching Wi-Fi use, "assume away" the challenges of protecting those ENG operations. 

The National Association of Broadcasters has said that confining unlicensed indoor use to homes only, rather than businesses and other public venues, would alleviate some of the potential interference, though no one has proposed that.  

The Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC) is warning the FCC not to "pull the technical rug" out from under the FCC's own efforts to boost unlicensed WiFi. 

That came in comments on the FCC's proposal to allow very low power (VLP) unlicensed devices to operate throughout the 6 GHz band, indoors and outdoors, which means sharing with broadcast and utility company incumbents, and low power devices to operate indoors only, both of which the coalition supports. 

Related: FCC Opens All of 6 GHz Band for Unlicensed

But it is concerned that the FCC could strike an "arbitrary" agreement with those incumbents on the indoor-only power levels that might appear to be a compromise but that the coalition said could instead undermine the enormous benefits of WiFi if in practice it makes routers "far more costly, complex, and less useful for the average household or small business." 

The FCC has tentatively concluded that power levels to indoor-only devices up to 8 dBm/MHz are acceptable. The coalition said it should stick with that absence convincing evidence that it would "substantially increase the risk of harmful interference" to incumbents. 

Broadcasters are worried that the new unlicensed users could cause harmful interference to electronic newsgathering and field-to-studio transmissions in the band. 

"NAB is disappointed the FCC is allowing uncoordinated unlicensed use across the entire 6 GHz band," National Association of Broadcasters executive VP of communications Dennis Wharton said at the time of the FCC vote to approve the 6 GHz sharing. "Unlike in other recent proceedings, the Commission did not bring stakeholders together to seek compromise."  

PISC doesn't want it to start now, particularly since it doesn't see it as a "compromise" but as a potential capitulation to incumbents.

PISC members include the Open Technology Institute, Consumer Reports, Public Knowledge, Common Cause and the National Hispanic Media Coalition. 

The FCC's Office of Engineering & Technology (OET) has denied a request to extend the comments in its decision to open up more spectrum for 5G. Wi-Fi fans, including cable ops, had asked the FCC to deny it. 

On April 23, the FCC voted unanimously to allow the entire 1200 MHz of the 6 GHz band to be shared with unlicensed Wi-Fi, the FCC's latest move in freeing up more spectrum for connecting 5G in-home devices--video streaming, video calls--and connecting IoT devices to the internet. 

Related: D.C. Weighs in on FCC's 6GHz Unlicensed Vote 

The Ultra Wide Band Alliance (UWB Alliance) had asked for a 30-day extension and the Wi-Fi Alliance had asked the FCC to deny that request.  

The alliance also said that "the continued shut-down due to the COVID-19 pandemic has made the normal operation of business exceedingly difficult for commenters and indicated that lab-based testing, which would be required to thoughtfully answer the Commission’s questions has been greatly hampered." 

The Wi-Fi Alliance won the day.  

"The window originally provided for comments and reply comments is adequate to develop complete, fully supported comments and reply comments," OET said. 

It said that even though it conceded COVID-19 had affected normal business operations, "most, if not all, of the States have started to resume business activities, which should provide the ability to conduct most, if not all, tests that parties plan to conduct." 

The FCC's plans to open up the 6 GHz and 5.9 GHz bands for unlicensed WiFi would add at least $183.44 billion to the U.S. economy over the next five years. 

That is according to a new study released and funded by WiFi Forward, whose members include cable broadband providers and computer and tech companies.  

Both FCC spectrum efforts are part of the larger push for more spectrum for 5G wireless broadband.

Related: Pai Proposes Dual-Use 5.9 GHz Band

An economic boost is obviously more important than ever given the pandemic-driven shutdown and its economic aftermath. 

The study, from Dr. Paul Katz, director of business strategy research at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information and president of Telecom Advisory Services, finds that sharing those bands between licensed and unlicensed users would add $106 billion to the GDP by increasing broadband speeds and thus accelerating the Internet of Things and the augmented reality/virtual (AR/VR) reality market.  

Finally it predicts another $8 billion in "consumer surplus" thanks to broadband speed increases.

 Related: Ford Backs Pai's V2V Compromise

Another $69 billion would come in savings on enterprise wireless traffic and sales of WiFi and AR/VR equipment. 

The FCC is proposing freeing up the lower 45 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use, reserving the rest for vehicle-to-vehicle communications services that has previously had the whole 75 MHz. It is also considering how to free up spectrum in the 6 GHz band to share with utility companies and broadcasters and other incumbent users. 

CableLabs, which has outlined a multi-decade plan to one day evolve HFC networks to 10 Gbps transoms, thinks it has a way for the home Wi-Fi network to keep up, too.

The cable industry technology consortium today is introducing what it calls Dual Channel Wi-Fi to its members.

Outlined in a CableLabs blog post, the technology adds a secondary downstream channel in the home network, allowing bandwidth hogging applications like video to be taken off the primary upstream/downstream channel and alleviating congestion.

According to Belai Hamzeh, senior chief technology officer for CableLabs, on both the router and the device need to be enabled with Dual Channel Wi-Fi technology to fully use the technology. But legacy devices benefit in being able to connect to an overall less congested Wi-Fi network.

Hamzeh said that a “significant number” of cable operator-supplied access equipment in U.S. homes can be enabled with Dual Channel Wi-Fi via a simple software upgrade.

He added that 15% of customer service calls for U.S. cable operators are Wi-Fi related, resulting in $600 million of annual costs.

CableLabs said it’s working with Edgewater Wireless, a participant in the inaugural UpRamp Fiterator cohort, to develop Dual Channel implementation for OpenWRT platforms. CableLabs has also developed the code for RDK-B and RDK-V platforms.

CableLabs is positioning Dual Channel Wi-Fi as a compliment to what it calls “10G-ready technology”—a set of tools that also includes Full Duplex DOCSiS, PNH, x-Haul and vRAN, PON, DOCSiS 3.1, P2P Coherent Optics and Los Latency DOCSIS.

Technicolor has sold its WiFi management software business to AirTies for an undisclosed sum, the two technology vendors have announced.

Istanbul, Turkey-based AirTies will assume control of Wireless Doctor, Technicolor’s suite of WiFi management applications for home and business, its sales contacts, as well as the 30-person team behind the product.

AirTies and the Paris-headquartered Technicolor, one of the larger suppliers of WiFi gateways to the global operator community, will stay in business together, jointly looking for ways to develop and sell WiFi management solutions.

Related: AirTies to Debut RDK-Based Mesh WiFi Solution for Operators

Wireless Doctor is a suite of cloud-based performance management software, embedded decision logic, and apps used by service providers to support field technicians, network engineers, customer care agents, marketing personnel and data analysts to improve the in-home WiFi experience of their subscribers.

The acquisition will be used to bolster AirTies Remote Manager, a cloud-based optimization suite that provides real-time visibility and historical performance analysis to better manage consumer WiFi.

“One of the most critical issues facing service providers today is the lack of visibility and control over their subscribers' in-home WiFi experience,” said Philippe Alcaras, CEO of AirTies. “We have been tremendously impressed by Technicolor’s software, intellectual property and personnel, and look forward to strengthening our position as the leader in Smart WiFi solutions for service providers. We are also extremely excited to partner with Technicolor on ways to leverage our Smart WiFi software."

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission has concluded that devices it tested demonstrate that WiFi can share the 5.9 GHz band with existing connected car technologies.

The FCC released the results of the testing Monday (Oct. 29) and sought comment on those results, as well as on the fact that there have been developments since the testing began, including new app-based vehicle communications systems and the limited introduction of the dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) technologies, so asked for input on those, too.

"We found the prototype devices [nine devices submitted by Cisco, Qualcomm, KEA Tech, Broadcom, and CAV technologies] reliably detected DSRC signals," the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) said.

"The prototypes were designed to prevent interference by detecting DSRC signals and then either vacating the spectrum entirely or sharing a portion of the spectrum with non-safety related communications using techniques similar to WiFi sharing," the FCC said.

FCC chairman Ajit Pai signaled last week to be on the lookout for those test results. The FCC wants initial comments on the results by Nov. 28 and replies by Dec. 13.

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association has been asking the FCC to take a "fresh look" at the 5.9 GHz spectrum band that currently is designated for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) ITS (intelligent transportation system) use, including whether that 75 MHz of spectrum should be freed up entirely for unlicensed WiFi. NCTA has argued that the set-aside has proved a waste of government money and an experiment that failed.

The government set aside that spectrum almost two decades ago (1999) for intelligent vehicle systems, but the technology has yet to materialize, the Obama-era planned mandate of DSRC hasn't, either, under the new Trump administration, and some car companies are looking at alternative approaches to vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications (notably Qualcomm's Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology).

Related: Trump Said to Be Backing Away from DSRC Mandate

NCTA already had some advice for the FCC on Monday: “OET's test report makes it clear that WiFi can operate safely in the 5.9 GHz band," NCTA said in a statement. "With this testing complete, and a congressional mandate to free up new spectrum for unlicensed uses, now is the time to move forward. Given fundamental changes in both the wireless broadband and automotive safety landscapes, the FCC should take a fresh look at how 5.9 GHz spectrum can be an important element in delivering Gigabit WiFi and fulfilling our nation’s agenda of delivering ubiquitous broadband to all Americans.”

“The results of these tests prove that WiFi can successfully operate in the 5.9 GHz band without causing harmful interference," said WiFi Forward, a WiFi advocacy groups whose members also include ISPs and equipment manufacturers. "But the facts on the ground have changed and further testing of co-channel operation with DSRC is no longer relevant. So while some parties will seek years of additional testing to try to stall FCC action, it is now time for the FCC to issue a new further notice that brings Americans Gigabit broadband and asks whether it should continue to support the failed DSRC experiment.”

“Nearly two years after the deadline for completing a three-phase test plan to determine whether auto safety and Wi-Fi can share the 5.9 GHz band, this agency is releasing the results of its lab testing," said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. "These results are long overdue.  But we need to do more than just make our work public.  We need to start a rulemaking to take a fresh look at this band and its real possibilities.”

Comcast, Liberty Global and Bell Canada are supporting a new open source software initiative announced earlier this week by Wi-Fi technology vendor Plume.

At the Broadband World Forum in Berlin, Plume jointly announced, along with Samsung, that it was rendering open-source the Plume Middle Layer software it uses for gateways, modems, routers, access points, extenders, set-top boxes, IoT hubs, smart speaker and other Wi-Fi-connected devices.

The software will now be called OpenSync.

Plume says the OpenSync framework is “compatible with and leverages other open source initiatives and industry alliances,” including Reference Design Kit, the open source set-top and gateway software stack backed by Comcast, Liberty Global and eight other cable operators.

"For Liberty Global, a critical element of exploiting our broadband capabilities and delivering a superior connectivity experience to our customers is to ensure that we can continuously optimize Wi-Fi performance within a customer's home,” said Dan Hennessy, European CTO of Liberty Global, in a statement. “It is also clear to us that in creating those capabilities, we need to intelligently optimize performance across homes in close proximity to each another, which is common in our footprint. This is why we've already used elements of the OpenSync framework to optimize Wi-Fi in millions of homes and look forward to investigating ways in which the initiative might be applied to other use cases that may benefit our customers.”

‘"We've realized tremendous value from the RDK software stack in our advanced gateways," added Fraser Stirling, senior vpDigital Home, Devices & AI at Comcast. "Plume's PML is already integrated with RDK and deployed within our footprint, and we look forward to incorporating additional elements of OpenSync in the near future. The ability to deploy OpenSync atop the open-source RDK software further demonstrates the power and versatility of our approach. With more than 40 million RDK devices deployed globally, the RDK community is increasingly focused on new innovation for gateways and in-home mesh networking.”

AirTies said it will debut a version of its mesh Wi-Fi software for broadband devices running the cable industry’s open-source RDK platform, beginning in the first quarter of next year.

The Instanbul-based technology vendor also said that it has already signed on a Tier 1 operator, as of yet unnamed, to deploy its new software product.

Related: RDK Partners with Metrological for Easier OTT App Integration

RDK is an open-sourced software stack, backed by Comcast, Charter Communications and Liberty Global, and designed for pay TV set-tops and broadband gateways.

AirTies didn’t specify which vendors might use its RDK-enabled software in devices, but the company works with leading CPE vendors, including Arris.

Increasingly, service providers are emphasizing whole-home performance management of the customer Wi-Fi experience. And finding ways for hardware including gateways and extenders to play nice is part of the plan. 

“Since the RDK is an open source software platform for the connected home, improving the home Wi-Fi experience through new applications and analytics is of paramount importance,” said Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK Management.

“With this forthcoming integration, operators using RDK will easily be able to deploy AirTies’ Managed Wi-Fi Mesh software on their broadband CPE, and it will be deployed by a Tier 1 operator in the near future,” added Philippe Alcaras, CEO of AirTies. 

Comcast and Charter Communications said they're collectively opening more than 12,000 Wi-Fi hotspots to non-subscribers across Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina ahead of Hurricane Florence.

Comcast will open about 7,000 hotspots in Savannah and Augusta, Georgia, as well as Charleston, South Carolina. 

Charter said it will open 5,100 hotspots in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Comcast has a map of Xfinity WiFi hotspots at www.Xfinity.com/wifi. The cable company said it’s girding its facilities for the pending disaster, bringing in extra generators and fuel trucks, in addition to more technical support staff.

Charter's map can be found at https://www.spectrum.com/wifi-hotspots.

“It’s critical that impacted residents are able to communicate during challenging weather events such as Hurricane Florence,” said Doug Guthrie, regional senior VP for Comcast, in a statement.

With Hurricane Florence baring down on the Southeast, the governors of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia have declared a state of emergency.

However, the storm’s wind speeds declined markedly early Thursday morning, and the hurricane has been downgraded to Category 2. It had grown in size, though, and the National Weather Service warned "this will likely be the storm of a lifetime for portions of the Carolina coast."

Ruckus Networks announced that it is providing its virtual SmartZone controllers and certified indoor/outdoor Wi-Fi access points in the expansion of a Facebook-led partner program aimed at building public Wi-Fi across Africa, India, and Indonesia.

The partner program is part of an expansion of Facebook’s Express Wi-Fi initiative, which is seeks to connect more individuals across the globe to the internet. Under Express Wi-Fi, local business owners install Wi-Fi hotspots, with high-speed internet services provided by local ISPs, mobile network operators and other Facebook broadband service partners.

The new vendor-focused partner programd within Express Wi-Fi not only initially includes Arris’ Ruckus Wireless unit, but also Arista, Cambium Networks--access point manufactures are being brought in to build Express Wi-Fi devices.

"We are committed to providing connectivity to people in the most remote areas of the world," said Ian Whiting, president of Ruckus Networks, in a statement. "We are excited to be a partner in Facebook's Express Wi-Fi Certified program, which is another important step in bridging the digital divide, giving individuals access to high-performance Wi-Fi networks. Ruckus strives to connect the unconnected, and we look forward to an ongoing partnership with Facebook.”

Related: New Ruckus Networks Chief Plans to Stay the Course

The Ruckus products featured in the Express Wi-Fi deployment include the company’s adaptive antenna BeamFlex technology. The patented technique aims to increase connection quality and range, delivering better voice and data communication and significantly improving power efficiency.

"Express Wi-Fi is part of Facebook's initiative to help bring more people online globally," said Guy Mordecai, Facebook’s product lead for Express Wi-Fi. "We're excited to launch the Express Wi-Fi Certified program and have Ruckus as one of our initial partners. With this program, we hope to expand the Express Wi-Fi ecosystem and work with partners like Ruckus to help bring affordable Wi-Fi solutions to emerging markets."

Arris has announced the first device to receive the Wi-Fi Alliance’s EasyMesh certification.

The VAP4641 Wi-Fi extender supports the open standard that enables interoperability with any other Wi-Fi device certified under the open standard. Under current not-so-interoperable life without wide availability of EasyMesh modems and extenders, users are compelled to purchase compatible extenders from the same manufacturer that provided their modem.

Related: Wi-Fi Alliance Takes Aim at Whole-Home Networking 

The wall-plug mounted VAP4641, part of Arris’ HomeAssure family of Wi-Fi products, features 4x4 antennas and 802.11ac Wi-Fi capability.

“In the case of Arris HomeAssure, the Wi-Fi Controller sits on top of the EasyMesh protocol," said Arris CPE division chief Charlie Cheevers, speaking to Wi-Fi NOW. "The EasyMesh MAP creates the network topology and sees everything, but it is the Wi-Fi controller algorithm above that adds all of the critical intelligence, including client steering, band steering, changing channels, and more.” 

“Companies like Google and in particular Apple believe their smartphone should do all it can do make the connection experience as good as possible for the consumer. Now with EasyMesh in the home, the EasyMesh controller will know know more about the overall Wi-Fi topology than the Apple phone. That also means that ideally, Apple phones should obey messages sent from EasyMesh networks,” Cheevers added.

"Our home Wi-Fi vision is to provide ubiquitous coverage from a single network," said Larry Robinson, president, customer premises equipment at Arris, in a statement. "We're proud to continue our contributions to the Wi-Fi Alliance's multi-AP specifications and Wi-Fi EasyMesh program to help service providers bring new innovations like the VAP4641 Wireless Extender to consumers. We're making it easier for consumers to install, configure and manage their home network, while delivering Gigabit speeds."

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association is pushing the President to make opening up the 5.9 GHz band for more Wi-Fi a priority in his remaining days in office, saying the need is urgent and the spectrum deficit dangerous.

It signed on to a joint letter to the White House from a group of tech and Internet companies, schools and libraries.

While NCTA is sparring with Google in the set-top sphere, and has butted heads with Free Press over consolidation, they are all together in their support of opening up the band.

Cable operators have been pushing for more 5 GHz spectrum to fuel their Wi-Fi hotspots, the industry's primary mobile broadband play.

"While Americans’ dependence on unlicensed technologies for Internet access continues to skyrocket," they told the President, "the spectrum resources that power our devices are perilously insufficient. As a result, our Wi-Fi bands are becoming dangerously congested. The problem has become so severe that Cisco and Apple have recently warned customers that the core 2.4 GHz unlicensed band has become so overtaxed that it “is not considered suitable for use for any business and/or mission critical enterprise applications.” We must act now to find more unlicensed spectrum."

The President has not been shy about wanting to free up more spectrum for broadband--it has been a tech centerpiece of his Administration--and The FCC has been looking to do so in the 5.9 GHZ band, but there remain issues of possible interference with connected car technology that it is still working through.

The FCC has an open inquiry into using the band for unlicensed, and Department of Transportation have agreed on testing the co-existence of vehicle-to-vehicle communications (intelligent transportation system [ITS] devices) and Wi-Fi, but the groups say the President needs to prioritize finding a solution, which it suggests is out there.

They say the President needs to implement "one of the promising coexistence options that would reconfigure the band to permit Wi-Fi to share the band safely with . . . crash-avoidance applications.”

They also take aim at ITS, saying it has yet to make meaningful use of that band and that other technologies are overtaking it. "Fortunately, there is still time for both Wi-Fi and ITS to design their wireless operations with sharing built in so the band can enable ITS and benefit Wi-Fi consumers. Thus, the ideal moment to put sharing criteria in place for the 5.9 GHz band is now."

They say the 5.9 GHz band is 1) "uniquely large enough to support wireless innovation and investment, and occupies a low enough frequency range to support widespread consumer operations; 2) "is immediately adjacent to the existing 5.8 GHz unlicensed band, which already uses Wi-Fi to support millions of consumer devices and automotive functions for drivers today," 3) and will "allow the United States to deploy next-generation 160-MHz-wide gigabit Wi-Fi technologies, greatly increasing throughput and performance.

Finally, they say the band is unutilized in the vast majority of the country, with far fewer government operations than other potential Wi-Fi bands and widespread use of ITS systems still 15-20 years away.

Other strange-bedfellow groups NCTA is in league with on the issue include the American Library Association, Consumer Federation of America and Next Century Cities.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association wants the FCC to open a new docket on the implications of allowing mobile operators to employ "non-standard" LTE unlicensed (LTE-U) technologies to operate in unlicensed spectrum, which the cable trade group argues could degrade Wi-Fi service, which is cable operators' primary mobile broadband play.

That came in comments to the FCC late Thursday (June 11). NCTA said the FCC needs to carefully supervise any standards-setting process, get all sides together to insure "effective sharing mechanisms," seek regular reports from IEEE and 3GPP standards-setting bodies, and not allow LTE-U to deploy until those processes are complete, and then regulate a solution if necessary to "protect consumers."

According to one cable exec speaking on background, among the key cable operator concerns is that the mobile operator Wi-Fi technologies could interfere with other Wi-Fi devices, like cable in home Wi-Fi, not to mention, though he did, wireless garage doors and even baby monitors.

That he says, could turn mobile phones into mobile jamming devices.

From the mobile side, they see cable opposition as a "not in my backyard" can do so as well as or better than Wi-Fi currently shares with other Wi-Fi.

NCTA told the FCC that while some carriers have "paid lip service to the need to share spectrum fairly with other unlicensed technologies that consumers rely on, neither LAA [Licensed Assisted Access] nor LTE-U currently requires a carrier to employ any sharing mechanism at all, and most of the optional mechanisms being considered would not protect Wi-Fi users."

NCTA argues that those developing LAA and LTE-U technologies have "dangerously deviated" from the usual standards-setting process for unlicensed and that "On their current course, LAA and LTE-U threaten both to irreversibly damage the

integrity of this important process and deploy a technology that will cause untold harm to consumers and innovators."

In its filing LTE-U fan Qualcomm counters that it has worked closely with its partners and standard bodies to develop "clear and effective specifications for both LTE-U and LAA."

As to interfering with cable and other Wi-Fi, Qualcomm flatly denied it. "Assertions that LTE Unlicensed will drown out Wi-Fi and other unlicensed spectrum users are completely false," the company said. "LTE Unlicensed, in all forms, has been carefully designed to fairly share spectrum with Wi-Fi."

As to regulating a solution, Qualcomm says "despite the pleas of some, there is absolutely no basis for any new FCC regulation with respect to LTE-U and LAA."

Back in early May, NCTA, among others, asked the FCC to collect more information on how new LTE-U wireless service tied to Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) would be sharing the 3.5 GHz band (and potentially 5 GHz band) with Wi-Fi users, like cable ops, and the FCC complied, giving commenters until June 11 to weigh in, with replies due June 26.

The FCC recently made 3.5 GHz spectrum available for licensed and unlicensed use, and is eyeing freeing up more unlicensed spectrum in the 5 GHz band. Some wireless companies have approached the FCC about employing the LTE-U/LAA model, in which licensed spectrum is used as the primary channel for unlicensed devices. On Tuesday (May 5), the FCC put out the public notice seeking more info on that technology and its impact on Wi-Fi in the band.

NCTA had registered concerns with the FCC over tying licensed and unlicensed use. "LAA’s dependence on licensed spectrum would raise barriers to entry across the 3.5 bands by tying the use of this spectrum to carriers’ existing licensed spectrum portfolios," it told the FCC in a letter to the FCC back in February, and pointed to "the need for additional information on the FCC record on exactly how LTE-U sharing mechanisms would work in the 3.5 GHz band."

Looking to match up speeds entering the home with the capacities supported by customers’ home networks, Comcast has introduced a souped up wireless gateway from Cisco Systems that bakes in 802.11ac WiFi and the 2.0 version of Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA), which utilizes the home’s coax network.

The product, which carries the consumer-facing brand of the “Xfinity Wireless Gateway,” is the Cisco-made DPC3941T. According to this blog post from Jill Formichella, Comcast Cable’s director, home network product development, the WiFi piece is outfitted with a 3x3 MIMO design that delivers three spatial streams and 1.3 Gbps of raw throughput via an 80MHz-wide wireless channel. She said third-party lab tests by Allion Engineering Services showed the gateway delivering 700 Mbps of actual throughput.

The 700 Mbps mark is more than two times faster than Comcast’s current router and seven times faster and provided better overall in-home coverage than similar devices from competitors, including Verizon Communications and AT&T, claimed Eric Schaefer, Comcast Cable’s SVP and GM, communications, data and mobility, in this separate post.

The new gateway integrates a DOCSIS 3.0 modem, though the channel bonding configuration was not immediately available. Top-of-the-line D3 modems can bond 24 downstream channels and 8 upstream channels, putting the downstream within shouting distance of 1 Gbps bursts. Broadcom is working on a D3 chipset that can bond 32 downstream channels.

Comcast also did not announce pricing and packaging options for the new product, but Schaefer wrote that will become available “later this fall in select markets,” and will eventually be introduced to Comcast’s entire footprint.

A spokesman said that new customers who qualify for a device will automatically receive one when they sign up for service, subject to availability. Customers who want to receive info on the new gateway and when it becomes available in their market are directed to send an email to: AC_WirelessGateway@cable.comcast.com.  

Comcast, which ended the second quarter with 21.27 million broadband subs, is introducing the gateway as it bumps its Blast Tier to 105 Mbps down (from 50 Mbps) and its Extreme Tier to 150 Mbps (from 105 Mbps) at no additional cost in markets in its Northeast and West regions. Comcast offers a fiber-based residential service in select markets that delivers 505 Mbps down and 100 Mbps upstream.

Last April, Comcast launched a Cisco-made 802.11n DOCSIS 3.0 gateway with a 16x4 channel-bonding configuration that also supports MoCA 2.0, a technology that delivers in-home wireline throughputs of 400 Mbps in basic mode and up to 800 Mbps in the enhanced, turbo mode.

Comcast is also using its new gateways to deliver a separate "Xfinity WiFi" SSIDs and community hotspots that are accessible to credentialed broadband subs. Comcast is on pace to deploy 8 million hotspots by the end of the year, a number that includes its residential hotspots and those deployed in outdoor and business locations.