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Is there enough wireless spectrum to go around?

Do you care?  You should.  We’re running out of “airwaves” to broadcast everything including cell phone traffic.  Unless we figure out a way to fix that – or conserve- we’re going to be in trouble.

Just a few short years ago, cell phones worked better than they do today.  Sure there were dropped calls, but far fewer than today and, for the most part, all of the cellular connectivity we wanted was there for the asking.

Previous cell phone technology – which we now call 2G/2.5G – handled communications much more efficiently than today’s “advanced” networks.  Remember when cell phone battery life was measured in multiple days between charging sessions and not hours?

A few years ago, when 3G was in its infancy, Mike Lazaridis, CEO of Research in Motion told me that they were in no rush to switch BlackBerries to 3G.  He said that even though 3G was “newer” and “faster” it also drained battery life.

But now we’re heavily entrenched in a 3G (soon to be 4G) world. Cellular carriers have been forced to spend incredible amounts of money to buy more frequencies from the U.S. Government (even some which used to be our analog television channels 2-13) to provide fast, new services.  2.5G has been relegated to inexpensive phones and the like.

The problem is after spending billions on 3G networks cellular carriers need much more space.  If not, we’ll all be experiencing more and more problems like iPhone users have been dealing with.

What’s worse, 4G is coming!  That means carriers will have to build an entirely new, expensive wireless network to handle those even faster speeds.  In addition to the billions of dollars that will cost them (and, in turn, you) carriers will begin to retire those efficient 2G services and even begin to slow the upgrading of current 3G networks.  If you had to make their the decision for them would you spend more money on old science – or shift resources to newer technologies?

So, as more and more buyers decide on 21^st Century smartphones – with more elaborate, resource-sucking data features – crowded 3G networks won’t be getting much more reliable while 4G services will be overwhelmed right from the start.

What’s the answer?  I wish there was a simple one.  Maybe smartphone users should begin to depend on Wi-fi networks whenever they’re indoors.  Maybe 3G networks and handsets could be improved to handle the load more efficiently.  Maybe 4G access should be used only for premium services until it’s robust enough to deal with future demands.

All of this makes something I read online all the more disturbing.  It’s a blog entry (from gizmodo.com) which takes Mike Lazaridis to task for this quote:

“Manufacturers had better start building more efficient applications and more efficient services.  There is no real way to get around this.  If we don’t start conserving that bandwidth, in the next few years we are going to run into a capacity crunch.  You are already experiencing the capacity crunch in the United States.”

The blogger basically answered back by saying RIM was making excuses and iPhones rule.  Since modern smartphones are capable of amazing feats that there’s no way the public wants to go back to slower, more basic services.

I understand the blogger’s frustration but this was not a call for going backwards.  It was a call for going forward and pushing the envelope forward – but with a purpose.  Whether 3G, 4G or 5G at some point we will have to take the laws of physics into account and be smart about how we use the wireless spectrum we’re given.

Like our planet’s water and air supplies there is a finite amount of natural resources – and wireless spectrum - to go around.   If we don’t find a way to conserve and use it properly we’re all going to suffer.