The Federal Communications Commission today moved to open up more spectrum for wireless use, which should mean faster service for those logging on to Wi-Fi networks at home and in public areas like convention centers.

Specifically, the commission voted to free up 100 MHz of spectrum in the 5 GHz band. Gadgets currently operate in 555 MHz of the 5 GHz band, so the move provides a bit more breathing room and should ease congestion. Devices that operate in the 5 GHz band include Wi-Fi hotspots and wireless home local area networks.

The agency also removed an indoor-only restriction, which will support deployment of outdoor Wi-Fi hotspots.

Gadget users on cellular networks frequently connect to Wi-Fi networks when available to preserve data and, in most cases, get faster speeds.

"But Wi-Fi has become a victim of its own popularity, and now faces congestion issues of its own," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said today. "That's why the Commission is hard at work providing spectrum for both licensed and unlicensed use. Both are critically important to our mobile ecosystem. In this order, the Commission is taking 100 MHz of unlicensed spectrum at 5 GHz that was barely usable  and not usable at all outdoors  and transforming it into spectrum that is fully usable for Wi-Fi."

According to Wheeler, this 100 MHz is "more usable spectrum than the 2.4 GHz band that gave birth to Wi-Fi in the first place."

"It will make it easier to get online wirelessly in public places like airports and convention centers, as well as in your living room," the chairman said. Ultimately, the goal is Gigabit Wi-Fi, or Wi-Fi that can provide data speeds faster than 1 Gigabit per second.

The FCC officially proposed freeing up this spectrum last year under former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. He first discussed his plans at CES 2013, where Wi-Fi service is notoriously spotty given that so many people are trying to connect their gadgets to available networks.

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