What's Better Than Wi-Fi? Super Wi-Fi! How the FCC paved the way for the next generation of wireless innovations.

What's Better Than Wi-Fi? Super Wi-Fi! How the FCC paved the way for the next generation of wireless innovations.

In a little-noticed meeting on May 9, 1985, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a rule that changed the tech world forever. Until that point, the FCC's main role had been to define specific uses for the public radio waves. If you picture all of the country's available radio spectrum as a pie, the FCC was the waiter who sliced it up and handed it out to the nation's most well-connected institutions: the radio and TV networks, telecom companies, and the military. The 1985 rule changed that. At the prodding of Michael Marcus, an engineer who joined the FCC under the Carter administration and stayed on during the Reagan era, the agency set aside a few distinct radio bands for "unlicensed" use. The rule allowed tech companies and customers to run devices on these bands for free, for any purpose, and without seeking government permission. In other words, the FCC was reserving a slice of the pie for the rest of us. [article]