LightSquared, for those of you who don’t know about this dismal failure of a company, wants to revolutionize the American wireless industry by launching a 4G LTE network that they’ll sell access to via wholesale rates to companies who then resell said service to consumers. Announced back in July 2010, they’ve been having issues getting off the ground because the spectrum that they intended to use for their network sits far too close to the spectrum that GPS uses. Early testing showed that every GPS receiver within a 20 mile radius of a LightSquared cell tower lost the ability to see a GPS satellite. Their solution was to turn down the power output of their cell towers and to use spectrum that’s farther away from the bands that GPS uses. Easier said than done. Earlier this week a report was leaked that showed 75% of GPS devices tested using LightSquared’s newly proposed modification to their network still experience problems. What’s LightSquared response? To demand more testing.
That’s right, on Monday LightSquared wrote a letter to the FCC [PDF document] asking them to test their network, again, and to also tell the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing to test their network and sign off on it not being a threat to how GPS currently works. LightSquared also decided to tweak their power output, again, saying that they’ll no longer need to ratchet it up to -24 dbm. Instead, the network will start at -30 dbm, and then be increased to -27 dbm in January 2016, which is one early later than originally proposed.
Look, if you’re looking for someone to change anything about the current state of wireless in America, check out Dish Network. They have 40 MHz worth of spectrum in the 2 GHz band they want to use on an LTE Advanced network, and they’re also looking to partner with T-Mobile should their deal with AT&T fail, which it likely will.
[Via: The Verge]