Has "unlicensed" in Part 15 worked? A case study

Purpose - This paper aims to review a case study of a project to provide broadband to city-run housing developments in San Francisco, California.Design methodology approach - The paper provides a first-person account of a broadband solution implemented by the Bay Area Wireless Research Network.Findings - It was found that the Bay Area Wireless Network implemented an unlicensed 5.8 GHz wireless point-to-point link.Research limitations implications - The case study provides a first-person account.Practical implications - Creation of an unlicensed band through Part 15 and the development of open protocols such as 802.11 spawned low cost devices through efficiencies of scale, ease of use through competition of feature sets of the devices such as the user interface.Originality value - Digital inclusion projects such as Alice Griffith might not have been economically viable without the unlicensed bands and the open protocols. Broadband would have been at least one or two magnitudes more expensive in capital costs.