Wilmington, NC whitespace pilot
1Hello tech hounds. WIlmington, NC is (as of 4/10/12) the only city in the world running what is being called a "whitespace" pilot. The FCC has cleared Wilmington to go ahead and test this wifi usage over the whitespace spectrum. Basically once analog TV stopped broadcasting and went digital, there is now a big gap where that signal used to be.
Since Wilmingfon was the first adopter of the analog to digital shift in TV broadcasting, it also became the first city (back in January) to start utilizing this super wifi band or whitespace. It is a county provided, free wifi signal that can be used at Hugh McRae park and Airlie Gardens. Aside from providing free internet, it also allows the county to do things like setup live feeds of the garden and the park similar to the traffic cams in some cities. By using this lower spectrum that TV signals occupied, it allows it to penetrate further amongst obstacles like trees.
The usage of this whitespace technology has some detractors but I see nothing but tremendous potential in it. It can open up wifi to areas not previously though capable of providing a decent wireless signal. With this kind of usage, you could have a wifi feed of an event at the park, an animal nest/habitat at a zoo, cheaper concert broadcasting, etc. There are models being thought up in other cities around the world but currently Wilmington is the only city with this awesome technology
More info can be found here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNnD6rHoNas
and here -
http://www.forbes.com/sites/elizabethwoyke/2012/01/26/worlds-first-commercial-white-spaces-network-launching-today-in-north-carolina/