Section 2 of 5
The part nobody sees
Bands, regions, auctions and why phones differ by country.
The NTIA allocation chart. Every colour is a service with a prior claim; Wi-Fi occupies the gaps between them.
Photo: United States Frequency Allocations Chart 2003 - The Radio Spectrum · Wikimedia Commons
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The unlicensed slice everything crowds into
The ISM bands were set aside for industrial, scientific and medical use, and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Zigbee all share them by accident of that allocation.
Everything in Spectrum
- The unlicensed slice everything crowds intoThe ISM bands were set aside for industrial, scientific and medical use, and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Zigbee all share them by accident of that allocation.
- The same band is not the same bandThe ITU divides the world into three regions with different allocations, which is why the same handset supports different bands in different markets.
- Governments sell the airNational spectrum auctions have raised sums comparable to infrastructure budgets, and the price paid shows up in what carriers build.
- A band two industries both wantedOpening 6 GHz for unlicensed use was contested by incumbent licensees, and different regulators resolved it differently.
The other four sections