What is the difference between licensed and unlicensed frequency bands?

Spectrum can be licensed—meaning it is bought for exclusive use by specific providers —or unlicensed, meaning anyone can use the frequency. Your Bluetooth device and Wi-Fi connection rely on unlicensed bands, for instance.

Answer: Wi-Fi is a particular service that uses unlicensed spectrum , but there are others as well. As the FCC puts it: Low-power, non-licensed transmitters are used virtually everywhere.

Using a licensed spectrum has two significant benefits: greater reliability and better performance . … Companies using unlicensed bands for IoT deployments run into reliability and performance issues more frequently than those using licensed spectrum, in part because they simply can’t control what other people do.13 Oca 2020

Unlicensed Spectrum is a designation of frequencies that do not have exclusive access . Unlike Licensed Spectrum which restricts usage of particular frequencies to an entity or entities, Unlicensed Spectrum is the designation of a frequency set to be used by nearly anyone.

5G NR-U is a major milestone in the journey Qualcomm embarked on to realize its vision for high-performance cellular networking in unlicensed spectrum . NR-U can advance private networks with the power of 5G and can alleviate spectrum constraints to deliver better 5G experiences. Download the 5G NR-U presentation.