a diagram of the 5 GHz spectrum

Key to the Internet’s integration into our lives is its spread throughout our built environments. Where the Internet cannot be found, modern life will not exist; here, the physical layer of ‘net governance becomes particularly important. While the ‘Net was born and raised on wires – copper, coaxial, and now fibre – many of its applications will soon derive their value from untethered links to the network. The Internet is becoming a pervasive part of modern life, and it will soon become as pervasive as air itself – quite literally.

In one sense, these wireless connections are simpler to deploy than their wired counterparts because they require less physical infrastructure: there are fewer wires to lay and fewer landowners to appease. But while a wire in the ground is virtually the same everywhere, the wireless spectrum is not.  In nations such as the United States, the spectrum is carefully divided and mostly regulated. In places like China, the opposite is true. The 128 other countries of the Internet lie somewhere in between.

So what is a device manufacturer – or hobbyist, for that matter – to do? The Internet and the devices that comprise it rely on international data standards. When translated from wired space to wireless, as will increasingly be the case, these standards clash with a country’s sovereignty over its electromagnetic spectrum. A wireless system might require a certain slice of the spectrum, but that slice might not be universally available throughout the world. Multiple slices/standards for each jurisdiction could mean decreased compatibility and increased time to market, if a device manufacturer chooses to serve a country at all.

As industrialized nations further regulate their spectrums, the opportunities for universal wireless standards are dwindling. For short-range communications, the 2.4 GHz spectrum is crowding; however, portions of the 5 GHz band remain open to innovation, possibly on the international level.