IP: BROADBAND COWBOY: Edupage, January 23, 2002

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> The Dandin Group's Dewayne Hendricks is setting up a wireless
> network at Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation that could be
> a model of the kind of network he wants--one that may have to
> circumvent FCC regulations on frequency, power, and transmission
> technology to deliver high-performance broadband. Complaints or
> blockage attempts by the FCC may be negated if the tribe asserts
> its Native American sovereignty; more importantly, Hendricks
> hopes it will put public pressure on the FCC to open up the
> spectrum. The FCC is concerned that unlicensed access to the full
> spectrum would give rise to too much transmission interference.
> Hendricks is convinced that spread spectrum technology will make
> a common-use spectrum workable, with technologies such as
> ultrawideband and dense-packet networks shoring things up if
> spread spectrum comes up short. So far, Hendricks' team has set
> up wireless connections for Turtle Mountain Community College
> and a small group of other buildings. Turtle Mountain is one of
> four reservations whose colleges are being equipped for wireless
> as part of a $6 million National Science Foundation initiative
> administered by EDUCAUSE.
> (Wired, January 2002)

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