

Back then, access points and client devices both required new radios to be able to use this new frequency range. That grant, in 2003, made an additional 240 MHz of spectrum available to Wi-Fi in the U.S. channel plans better with other regulatory bodies allowing operations in the U-NII-2c (extended) 5 GHz band. received spectrum from the FCC, it was granted as an experiment in coexistence to align the U.S. The last time Wi-Fi technologies in the U.S. In April 2020, 35 years into this “experiment in unlicensed use,” a single announcement gave Wi-Fi 1200 MHz of spectrum, more than doubling the current Wi-Fi spectrum allocated in the U.S. Wi-Fi’s capabilities have also grown, and as a result, its use in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands has reach its limits. Wi-Fi has steadily grown in popularity and provides demonstrable economic benefit. This spectrum accrual took place in multiple separate grants over the years. beginnings in 1985 all the way to the present, Wi-Fi has been granted a total of just 583 MHz of spectrum in both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands combined. This announcement is a good thing, and arguably one of the best things to happen in Wi-Fi since Wi-Fi 6 and Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) came about.įor some perspective on why this is such a milestone event for Wi-Fi, it should be noted that from its U.S. In April 2020 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the opening of the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed uses.
