
We Could Have Had Cellphones Four Decades Earlier – Reason.com - mikecarlton
http://reason.com/archives/2017/06/11/we-could-have-had-cellphones-f
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Pica_soO
Patent systems and market protection by monopolys. If there ever was something
to hold humanity back..

Just look at the positiv effects, a not enforced patent system had in china.
We miss out on that for what exactly? So that some elephant can walk down the
same path every day, knowing the seeds of growth are hidden away beneath
layers of trampled mud?

There should be a unused patents become public property within a fortnight
clause.

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Dylan16807
The article doesn't mention patents. This is entirely about allocating
spectrum. And nothing went entirely unused. There is always more demand than
there are suitable frequencies.

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JPLeRouzic
Exactly, it was solved by using small cells to share the spectrum
geographically and with higher frequencies that had the double benefit of
permitting more channels inside a band and smaller equipments. Using
frequencies higher than 100 MHz meant costly hardware in the
sixties/seventies.

And short antenna on a portable device were frankly ineffective at 100 MHz,
they had to be long: A quarter wavelength at 100 MHz is around 80cm/2.3feets
long!

