{"id":223992,"date":"2026-01-08T22:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T22:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/223992\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T22:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T22:46:07","slug":"wi-fi-advocates-get-win-from-fcc-with-vote-to-allow-higher-power-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/223992\/","title":{"rendered":"Wi-Fi advocates get win from FCC with vote to allow higher-power devices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThis is important for Wi-Fi 7 as well as Wi-Fi 6,\u201d Feld <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/haroldfeld\/status\/2009283590303907976\" rel=\"nofollow\">wrote<\/a> today in response to the Carr plan. \u201cBut we need a real pipeline for more unlicensed spectrum. Glad to see value of unlicensed acknowledged. Looking forward to more of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Risk to Wi-Fi spectrum appears low<\/p>\n<p>Despite the positive response to Carr\u2019s plan this week, there\u2019s still a potential threat to Wi-Fi\u2019s use of the 6 GHz band. The 1,200 MHz between 5.925 and 7.125 GHz was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fcc.gov\/document\/fcc-opens-6-ghz-band-wi-fi-and-other-unlicensed-uses-0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">allocated to Wi-Fi<\/a> in April 2020, but a plan to auction spectrum to wireless carriers could take some of those frequencies away from Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n<p>A law <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/tech-policy\/2025\/07\/trump-and-congress-finalize-law-that-could-hurt-your-wi-fi\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">approved by Congress and Trump in July 2025<\/a> requires the FCC to auction at least 800 MHz of spectrum, some of which could come from the 6 GHz band currently allocated to Wi-Fi or the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) in the 3550 MHz to 3700 MHz range. The FCC has some leeway to decide which frequencies to auction, and its pending decision in the matter will draw much interest from groups interested in preserving and expanding Wi-Fi and CBRS access.<\/p>\n<p>Calabrese <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/tech-policy\/2025\/06\/senate-gop-budget-bill-has-little-noticed-provision-that-could-hurt-your-wi-fi\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said in June 2025<\/a> that 6 GHz and CBRS \u201care the most vulnerable non-federal bands for reallocation and auction.\u201d But now, after Trump administration statements claiming 6 GHz Wi-Fi as a key Trump accomplishment and support from congressional Republicans, Calabrese told Ars today that reallocation of Wi-Fi frequencies \u201cseems far less likely.\u201d Advocates are \u201cfar more worried about CBRS now than 6 GHz,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to consumer advocacy groups, the <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/tech-policy\/2025\/06\/ex-fcc-chair-ajit-pai-is-now-a-wireless-lobbyist-and-enemy-of-cable-companies\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cable industry has been lobbying<\/a> for Wi-Fi and CBRS, putting it in opposition to the mobile industry that seeks more exclusive licenses to use airwaves. Cable industry lobby group NCTA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncta.com\/news\/ncta-statement-on-the-fccs-order-enhancing-unlicensed-use-in-the-6-ghz-band\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> yesterday that it is \u201cencouraged by the FCC\u2019s action to enhance usage in the 6 GHz band. With Wi-Fi now carrying nearly 90 percent of mobile data, securing more unlicensed spectrum is essential to keep up with surging consumer demand, power emerging technologies, and ensure fast, reliable connections for homes, businesses, and communities nationwide.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis is important for Wi-Fi 7 as well as Wi-Fi 6,\u201d Feld wrote today in response to the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[342,111,139,69,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-223992","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}