It is hard to believe that only a few years ago there were communities in Humboldt County that did not have telephone service. There are still areas without cable. Telephone and cable television are inherent rights, aren’t they?

Rural areas are searching for answers to receive the same technological opportunities that the larger more populated communities have been enjoying for years. The emergence of unlicensed and licensed frequency transmission devices has allowed Internet connections to be sent over wide distances. In areas such as ours where we have a unique topographical region, these devices are hindered by their low transmit power regulations. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recognized this and has been working to rectify the situation. They also recognize that the frequency band that cellular phones use are getting more crowded daily. With the popularity of cellular phones it has opened the once crowded frequency band of paging. The answer is something called Cognitive Radio and Cognitive Networking.

Cognitive Radio will allow networks such as paging, radio and even broadcast television stations to network and bring Internet, telephone, video and more to areas that seemed to be years away from receiving such technology. In addition to providing these services, it will save millions of dollars since these paging, radio and broadcast television transmitters are already in place. This allows these low power transmitters to utilize the higher-powered transmitters and provide services to areas in the most remote locations.

The FCC has also allowed companies to utilize power lines to transmit Broadband. Examples of this technology are the products that use your house electrical wiring and couples Radio Frequency energy to provide Ethernet connections from one side of your house to the other by simply plugging the device into an electrical outlet. Research is now being done to provide this technology over longer distances and soon every house with electricity will have a Broadband connection available.

Every technology-based company must adapt and seek new and improved resources to provide the services that are demanded by its current and future clientele. With the constant advancement of consumer-based products, we can now enjoy the option of working from home or extending that vacation and stay connected. They also open the possibilities of new career opportunities that have been promised to us over the past decade. Finally, we now have the next generation connections…today.

Rick Blanchard is the owner of Commercial Radio and Electronics (www.cre-powerpage.com). CRE has been providing communications and electronics design, installation and repair to Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity and Mendocino County since 1949. CRE is also a member of the Redwood Technology Consortium.

Copyright 2009, Eureka Times Standard Newspaper. The print version of this article first appeared in the 4/9/09 edition of the Times Standard.