Dell already planning "white space" laptop radios

It's been just two days since the FCC said it would open up the unused "white space" frequencies from 512MHz to 698MHz to anyone who wanted to use them, but already Dell is saying it is planning to outfit its laptops with radios that work on this frequency, offering an alternative to Wi-Fi for short- and medium-range networking.

As with Wi-Fi's 2.4GHz band, no license will be needed to operate at those frequencies (in contrast to the licensed, reserved bands used for much of the rest of the spectrum, including cell phones).

Dell hasn't set a timeline on adding such technologies to its equipment, and that's for good reason: No standards of any kind exist for data networks on this frequency band, and Dell certainly isn't the company to be developing them on its own. Radios, transmission protocols, routers -- everything will have to be developed, largely from scratch. And that can take years: Just ask those of us who're still waiting for 802.11n to become a ratified standard.

And of course, the white space band will also have to have a catchy name to get consumers on board and willing to pay extra for it. I'm thinking "Wite-Fi." Who's with me?

I'm cautiously optimistic about the technology: Unlicensed systems are always far cheaper and become more ubiquitous than licensed ones, which generally require subscription plans to use. Here's hoping that this technology turns out to be a winner, offering the good combination of both performance and range that its backers are touting. Check back in, oh, 2010 for an update.