Round Rock (TX) - Dell said it will be adding a new option for wireless connectivity in future laptops. The company plans to install radio chips that will be capable of connecting to the unused U.S. television spectrum referred to as White Spaces.

FCC regulators voted to open up the unused portion of spectrum from 512 MHz to 698 MHZ that is currently assigned to broadcast television, opening the door to a new opportunity for technology companies.

Recently Hewlett-Packard, Google, and Dell have all been fighting to open the White Spaces spectrum, thus providing an additional option for broadband wireless for users. Proponents have stated that the TV spectrum is capable of carrying broadband signals a lot farther than Wi-Fi can, and that opening the white spaces will allow the market to be expanded for the new smartphone-like devices.

"We intend to integrate white-space radios into future Dell products," said Neeraj Srivastava, director of technology policy at Dell. Among the products he is speaking of could be laptops, notebooks, netbooks, and any other devices that are capable of accessing the internet wirelessly, he did not give any indication as to when the technology would be available.
 
Originally the 2.4 GHz spectrum was considered “junk” as far as communications purposes were concerned, simply because microwave ovens operate on the same frequency. Therefore, interference was easily created and it wasn’t that great for the penetration of physical objects such as walls and furniture.

White Spaces are capable of solving many of the issues that come along with the 2.4GHz spectrum, thus allowing for greater bandwidth applications like the streaming of both video and audio, and even high rate downloading.
 
Dell believes that White spaces could be used for wireless gaming needs within a home, as well as downloading content into cars. The company considers White Spaces to be complementary to Wi-Fi.