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[David Parker]

is it possible that in the future we might have to pay a monthly fee to use a wireless mic, like a cell phone. In other words, might we have to pay for the frequency we use?

[Justice C. Bigler]

Hmmm....Other than the cell phone service, there aren't really any of the radio services that are licensed on a month by month basis. Annual or some multiple thereof is the norm for FCC licensing. Long term, I think a licensed wireless microphone service would be a good thing for us professionals, but I don't think it would happen.

[Jerome Malsack]

With a licensed wireless mic would you be restricted to a physical location?   What would a tour be like to find a frequency not in use by another facility.  How about a simple single wireless traveling around town for a demo? 

[Mike Reigh]

I doubt monthly.  If there is ever a licensing fee for this spectrum, it will likely be paid  in yearly or multi-year contracts.  Licensing spectrum that is as portable as the stuff we use would be way too difficult to keep track of.

[Brad Weber]

is it possible that in the future we might have to pay a monthly fee to use a wireless mic, like a cell phone. In other words, might we have to pay for the frequency we use?

With a cell phone you are paying for service from a service provider that paid one rather large amount for the exclusive use of the airspace and is now trying to recoup that investment (and more) via monthly service fees to the users of their services.  That's a very different scenario than wireless microphones as they currently exist.  I guess that wireless mic manufacturers or some other parties could try to purchase rights to some spectrum and then sell an access or service package with a monthly fee as well as offer compatible equipment, just like cell phones, but the numbers would probably make no sense or more likely make that a completely impractical option.

[David Parker]

With a cell phone you are paying for service from a service provider that paid one rather large amount for the exclusive use of the airspace and is now trying to recoup that investment (and more) via monthly service fees to the users of their services.  That's a very different scenario than wireless microphones as they currently exist.  I guess that wireless mic manufacturers or some other parties could try to purchase rights to some spectrum and then sell an access or service package with a monthly fee as well as offer compatible equipment, just like cell phones, but the numbers would probably make no sense or more likely make that a completely impractical option.

They grabbed the 700mghz range from us for the purpose of making money. Whoever "they" is. My mind wandered a bit as to how they could do that again and take all of it. I could see some sort of wireless technology very different than what we use now coming into play that we would have to pay for.

[Jared Bartimus]

If the FCC keeps repurposing spectrum I could possibly see some of the major companies that currently benefit from the 'free' frequencies (manufacturers, major sports leagues/venues, etc.) getting together to purchase a range of frequencies dedicated to wireless mics/iem.  I would guess the way that end users would have to pay for it would be an additional cost on purchase because it would be pretty much impossible to enforce the fees otherwise.

[Christian Tepfer]

is it possible that in the future we might have to pay a monthly fee to use a wireless mic, like a cell phone. In other words, might we have to pay for the frequency we use?

Over here we pay for spectrum yearly (with some exceptions) for some time now, roughly 10 Euros per transmitter and year, the fee varies and is re-calculated every year. Plus there's a one-time fee for the license.

We didn't really notice that waiving the fees for our main spectrum (790 - 865 MHz) a few years ago was just to free the spectrum for LTE and no worries with licensed wireless microphone users.

[Justice C. Bigler]

Licensing spectrum that is as portable as the stuff we use would be way too difficult to keep track of.

Unless they licensed it in the same manner as the Amateur Radio service. The individual is licensed after passing a basic knowledge test, gets access to those frequencies anywhere in the country and no one else (i.e. other services) is allowed to operate in that part of the spectrum.

I wouldn't mind doing it this way, but I don't see it being profitable enough to the FCC or Congress to consider unless the licensing fee were exorbitant (like in the 10s of thousands or dollars per year per licensee).

[Bill McIntosh]

With a cell phone you are paying for service ... via monthly service fees ...

The biggest difference I see would be the metering.  With a billing plan the service provider has to have some way to shut off service for non-payment, or only rent the equipment so it can be repossessed.

I suppose it could be done, but I don't see a business model that could support it.  Too easy to cheat at the low power levels of wireless mics/IEM (think all those 700 MHz units are out of service in the US?).

[ProSoundWeb Community]