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Codebreaker

Lots of fuss about the D-block

John Moe Mar 3, 2011

We’re coming up on the 10 year anniversary of September 11th, and there’s still a lot of squabbling about creating a separate network for public safety professionals. Tony Romm writes on Politico the fight is between big telecom companies like Verizon, AT&T and Sprint and T-Mobile. And, it centers around a band of spectrum known as the D-block, that’s the same band that your 4G phone data travels over. Sprint and T-Mobile support the plan that would put some of the d-block up for auction so companies could develop more high-speed networks emergency responders could use the should there be another Hurricane Katrina or September 11th.Makes sense, because their networks aren’t as speedy or strong as the networks Verizon and AT&T have built. That plan has lost steam in Congress and the White House, which now supports just giving some of that spectrum to public safety agencies and auction off spectrum broadcasters are just sitting on to pay for it. Congress people will continue to offer up bills on this issue.

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