Piloting the First Wireless White Spaces Network

Innovation in the White Spaces

With no computers and no broadband Internet access until just a few weeks ago, Trinity Christian School in Claudville, Virginia, now boasts a computer in every classroom, each with broadband connectivity to the Internet. Along with the school, the entire community is now connected through wireless broadband for the very first time.

	First White Spaces Network Brings Broadband Internet to Claudville, Virginia Read blog

What many take for granted — fast broadband Internet connectivity — is far from ubiquitous in many rural areas in the U.S. A huge step to change this was taken in Claudville, a rural Appalachian community, when the first white spaces network went live in a pilot project that could literally change life in rural America.

Last fall, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened up underused portions of the broadcast TV spectrum, or white spaces, to unlicensed wireless devices. White Spaces have a huge potential for a variety of wireless applications, including providing broadband connectivity to remote areas all over the U.S. Funding for this demonstration came from the TDF Foundation, which provided a fiber optic line to Claudville.

Dell, Microsoft and Spectrum Bridge partnered to connect Claudville’s post office, several businesses and homes, and Trinity Christian School to the fiber optic backbone using prototype wireless White Spaces equipment. Dell and Microsoft donated the computers and software installed in the school’s classrooms. Jerry Whitlow, administrator of Trinity Christian School commented, “The advantages these new technologies bring to our classrooms will be numerous, including expanded research and information resources, greater understanding of important world events and access to new distance learning opportunities.”

This easily replicable demonstration of a white spaces network extending broadband from an Internet backbone to remote rural locations promises a new era for underserved remote areas in the U.S. and elsewhere. Even better, rural communities can set up a white spaces network without an FCC license and at a lower cost than existing alternatives. We expect it to slowly transform the lives of the people of Claudville and, going forward, the lives of people in rural communities throughout the U.S. To learn more about the white spaces, see the Dell white paper, Wireless Innovation in the White Spaces.