You don't need a license to operate on them.' That's Ira Kelpz, Deputy Chief, Office of Engineering and Technology at the Federal Communications Commission, explaining precisely why these ISM bands are attractive to gadget makers: They're free to use. 'A lot of the unlicensed stuff - for example, Wi-Fi - is on the 2.4-GHz or the 900-Mhz frequencies, the ISM bands. A band of frequencies clustered around 2.4 GHz has been designated, along with a handful of others, as the Industrial, Scientific, and Medical radio bands.
It seems, well, regulated.Ī glance at FCC regulations confirms any suspicions. The question, then, is why so many of your gadgets operate at 2.4 GHz, instead of the ~2,399,999,999 whole number frequencies below it, or any number above it.
