Not everyone is so excited about Google’s plans to use the white space spectrum to deploy WiFi networks. White space, in the 700MHz terms, are the pockets of unused space between TV channels. There is quite a lot of this spectrum surprisingly, and it is very efficient. It is capable of propagating much further, and can go through walls, much better than current WiFi technology.

At the moment, WiFi networks use the unlicensed region of the 2.4GHz frequency. A current WiFi network is only accessible from less than 400 feet. The reason is, lower frequencies carry further, with the same amount of power. So then this white space proposal by Google looks like it is a great idea then, right? Well, there seem to be a few problems, one of which is hospital equipment.

There is a genuine concern for this. Just 10 years ago, a hospital was having trouble with it’s wireless heart monitors. The problem was eventually discovered to be a nearby television broadcasting site. This is their theory though. More research would have to be done before they could seek any sort of case to make the white space proposal not go down.

“If a new white space application that’s operating thousands of times more powerfully came online, either in the hospital or outside the hospital, it could very well directly interfere with the telemetry system and prevent patient monitoring,” -Tim Kottak, Engineer, GE Wireless and Health Care Division

[Via Cnet News]