No wonder country dwellers in so-called “flyover country” (I’m from Missouri, for the record) seem to be slower to fully embrace technology than their city-slicker counterparts: It’s not about being Luddites or possessing a lack of sophistication, but rather a lack of access. If more people in northern Iowa or in the Ozark Mountains had access, for example, then high-bandwidth applications such as YouTube or MySpace might actually get more play outside of urban population centers.
Microsoft researchers may have found a way to profoundly close the digital divide, at least with respect to access in rural areas (access also has something to do with socioeconomic dynamics). Researchers are closing in on a method of delivering wireless broadband Internet via the now-unused UHF television spectrum, according to a blog post by Erica Naone and published at MIT’s Technology Review Web site.
For those young enough to remember, UHF typically was used to broadcast local and public television programs, but became less and less relevant with the growing popularity of cable TV. Now that free television signals are broadcast digitally, Microsoft researchers hope to use the unused spectrum to deliver cheap broadband to areas otherwise unreachable by DSL or digital cable.
Here’s how it works (or could work, once the kinks are worked out):
Microsoft, teaming up with Harvard researchers, has developed a set of protocols (standards, more or less) to use the so-called “white space” left over from the digital TV switcheroo. They call the protocol “White-Fi,” which would offer about one mile of range from each hard-line connection point. It’s that final connection to the home that often is the most difficult and costly to make, so this emerging standard just might be the solution, according to a blog post by GigaOm:
“Google, Dell, HP, Philips and Intel have all voiced plans to develop white-space devices, with many seeing the former TV spectrum as a way to bypass the last-mile networks of incumbent broadband providers like AT&T and Qwest Communications. In addition, the white-space spectrum Microsoft is using (between 512 megahertz and 698 MHz) offers a longer range than today’s 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks, promising greater reach in rural areas.”
Other overlooked, remote areas in need of greater broadband access are Native American reservations. I think greater access is a positive step in general, but there’s something to be said for actually knowing one’s neighbors and talking to one another (I know, call me old fashioned) as opposed to just texting and Facebooking.
Photo courtesy of Stan Shebs, via Wikimedia Commons.
