These days, there isn’t a lot of harmony in the world of technology policy. But there is a bright spot of bipartisanship in a section of our airwaves: the 5.9 GHz band. In 2020, the FCC voted unanimously to modernize the rules in this spectrum to allow both Wi-Fi and automotive safety tech to operate. This win-win was celebrated by proponents of car safety and broadband alike. But today the Department of Transportation (DOT) is working on a study that may purposely have been designed to undo this decision. At a time when broadband is more important than ever, we should not undo this popular and bipartisan policy.
This approach in 5.9 GHz will benefit any American who uses Wi-Fi; today, that’s almost all Americans. Broadband providers and others will now be able to use the lower part of the band to strengthen Wi-Fi networks. As the pandemic showed us, Americans rely on these networks more than ever to access jobs, education, healthcare, and financial services. And as bandwidth-hungry applications like the Internet of Things and streaming proliferate, this new spectrum for Wi-Fi will create a wider channel to help meet that need. This particular swath of spectrum also sits between an existing Wi-Fi band and the new 6 GHz unlicensed band, meaning that existing chipsets can use it right way with little modification. That translates to better Wi-Fi without a system upgrade.
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