[Scan-DC] Cell Antenna CEO makes his own case on Jamming

[LtBrown122 at aol.com]

_http://urgentcomm.com/policy_and_law/commentary/cellantenna-jamming-0113/_ 
(http://urgentcomm.com/policy_and_law/commentary/cellantenna-jamming-0113/) 
CellAntenna CEO makes his case on jamming

Testing of radio technology happens all the time, but only on rare occasions  
are the results publicized. Rarer still is when the wireless industry is 
focused  on a test that doesn't happen.  
But that’s exactly what happened last week, when the Washington, D.C.,  
Department of Corrections canceled a scheduled demonstration of a cell-phone  
jamming solution from CellAntenna in a local jail. Although CTIA, the trade  
association for the cellular industry, asked an appeals court to stop the  
demonstration, the legal maneuver became unnecessary when the D.C. government  decided 
to halt the demonstration.  
For the most part, those in the radio and wireless industries generally  
breathed a sigh of relief. To say that jamming is hot-button topic in this  sector 
is an understatement; after all, it’s tough enough to build wireless  systems 
that overcome interference from unintended sources, much less systems  that 
deliberately jam signals. Internet blogs flatly described CellAntenna’s  
jamming technology as criminal.  
But CellAntenna CEO Howard Melamed said such depictions are inaccurate,  
noting that the FCC approved the demonstration—a request made by the D.C.  
Department of Corrections, not CellAntenna—although Melamed contends agency  approval 
was not needed. Meanwhile, fears expressed by CTIA that the jamming  signal 
would spread beyond the correctional facility and interfere with  legitimate 
communications were misguided, because the CellAntenna solution  “surgically” 
jams in a specific area, he said.  
“We've done it already in South Carolina, and we proved it—the FCC didn’t 
get  one complaint,” Melamed said during an interview with Urgent 
Communications.  “The radio stations and TV stations [covering the event] saw that they were 
able  to use their cell phones immediately, as soon as they walked out the 
door, while  we were jamming on the inside. And all the guards were able to use 
their [LMR]  walkie-talkies and Nextel phones.”  
Melamed was quick to note that CellAntenna also could jam Sprint Nextel’s  
iDEN signal—or even just specific channels on the network—without harming LMR  
communications, including those utilizing spectrum interleaved with the iDEN  
system. The company has demonstrated this capability in a separate test, but  
Melamed said he could not disclose the location of that demonstration.  
The reason correctional facilities are considering jamming technologies is to 
 stop inmates from using contraband cell phones to conduct criminal business 
from  behind bars. While cell phones are illegal for inmates—in fact, most  
correctional facilities even prohibit their employees from carrying them on  site
—a variety of creative methods are used to put them in the hands of inmates,  
Melamed said.  
“Remember, it’s illegal to bring drugs, guns and knives into prisons, but  
they find ways--if there’s money involved, then there’s a way to bring these  
things in,” he said. “Cell phones are more profitable than drugs in prisons  
today.”  
Specifically, Melamed said a $30 prepaid cell phone can be sold in prison for 
 $1500 to $2500. By utilizing CellAntenna’s jamming solution—a distributed  
antenna system that also can be used to strengthen in-building LMR coverage—
the  phones could not be used, so the black market would disappear quickly, he 
said.  
For now, contraband cell phones remain a problem for correctional facilities. 
 Melamed claims that U.S. cellular carriers make $2 billion per year in what 
he  calls “prison minutes”—an assertion he claims is the real motive behind 
CTIA’s  objections to CellAntenna’s demonstration efforts.  
“To me, the $2 billion or so dollars that they’re making from prison  inmates
—which is disgusting, by the way—is what’s driving this whole thing. This  
is about greed.”  
While Melamed said he has been told that his $2 billion figure for wireless  
is conservative, CTIA spokesman Joe Farren expressed serious doubt.  
“I don’t know where he [Melamed] got that number,” Farren said during an  
interview with Urgent Communications. “There isn’t such a number, and that  
sounds bizarre.  
“[Prison] traffic is not one that we’ve ever tried to consider. Even if  
someone were to try to tally, it’s so small it doesn’t make noise in the system. 
 No one has done that study, and no one intends to do that study, but that  
traffic is miniscule, for sure.”  
Melamed expressed disgust that wireless carriers would object to strategic  
jamming in correctional facilities when contraband cell phones are such a  
problem, claiming that they are preventing law enforcement from doing its job.  
“It would be like the companies that manufacture bullets telling the  
law-enforcement agencies that they can’t buy bullet-proof vests,” he said.  
Many wireless-industry professionals are concerned that allowing jamming by  
state and local governments—several federal agencies are allowed to use the  
technology—would open a Pandora’s Box of jamming issues. But Melamed notes 
that  other countries in the world allow jamming and that the U.S. allows the  
importation of jamming equipment from other parts of the globe.  
While the D.C. episode has been settled for the moment, the larger issue of  
jamming isn’t expected to disappear, something CTIA’s Farren acknowledged.  
“CellAntenna has made clear their interest in pursuing these tests, and the  
FCC has also indicated its interest in [approving such tests], so we’ll take  
each circumstance as it arises,” he said.  
E-mail me at _donald.jackson at penton.com_ (mailto:donald.jackson at penton.com) .
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