Building Wireless Community Networks, Second Edition

Regulations and Laws Affecting802.11 Network Deployment

The Civilian Spectrum Regulations

The spectrum is managed by a number of different organizations. The most visible to the general public is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC manages civilian, state, and local government usage of the radio spectrum. This is the regulatory organization that affects you.

The FCC has a set of rules and regulations that define use of spectrum, as well as policies and procedures for working with the FCC. You can obtain these in hardcopy by ordering the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 47 from the Government Printing Office (GPO) at http://bookstore.gpo.gov/.

Companies such as Pike and Fischer (http://www.pf.com/) offer subscription services to the updated FCC regulations, policies, and proposed rules. There are also free (but slightly dated) versions of the FCC rules online. The " Hypertext FCC Rules Project” run by Harold Hallikainen at http://www.hallikainen.com/FccRules is one such project.

Harold’s site actually indexes the GPO’s online version of the rules. You can go directly to the GPO’s online version of the rules at http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfr-table-search.html.

The GPO’s site points to all of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR); you want the section labeled Title 47 - Telecommunication.

Enforcement

The FCC has the authority to investigate any user of the band. In fact, they can actually come onsite and inspect the operation of equipment:

15.29(a) Any equipment ...