Do WiFi products for Home use require ICASA license?

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Millerslocal

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Hi,

Am planning to import a product that will use wifi within the house to connect the various peripherals to the router - all within the same house.

Would I need to get the product an ICASA license; and if so - what type of license do I apply for and how do I go about doing it.

Haven;t had much joy looking through the ICASA website.

Thanks :-)
 
You don't need a license.

Any device you do use should have an "ICASA approved" sticker on it.
 
You are in for around R16k to have a product approved... This is to have a type of wireless device approved intended for selling in the South African market. I would not worry too much about a single product, I don't think the ICASA police will come knocking unless you start interfering in the cellular or TV spectrums.
 
It is a criminal offense to have a non-ICASA approved appliance in your possession. Where I live, all four service providers struggle to get GSM delivered as illegal wireless telephones and other devices interfere with our frequencies.


ICASA is set to go from door to door and confiscate these; I am in full support as getting anything done on the Internet is sheer hell.
 
Space_Chief said:
In your possession?

Like not even switched on? I doubt that's true.
Click to expand...

Why specualte instead of educating yourself? It was stated in major newspapers that a certain wealthy suburb's residents experience so much interference from the plethora of illegal wireless devices, that ICASA will be testing for signals, then knock and confiscate, it was stated clearly that having such a device in your possession is a criminal offence.

ICASA has to protect how we function and illegal devices interfere with our GSM signals. It is so bad that 8ta and Vodacom had sent teams of technicians to investigate.

Laws are there to protect a d the arrogance of some spoils the quality of life of others, if we all follow protocol, drive decently and not transgress, the world may become a better place for all.

Get the facts and refrain from having an opinion. read the act. It is alos illegal to import these.
 
reneg8or said:
Why specualte instead of educating yourself? It was stated in major newspapers that a certain wealthy suburb's residents experience so much interference from the plethora of illegal wireless devices, that ICASA will be testing for signals, then knock and confiscate, it was stated clearly that having such a device in your possession is a criminal offence.

ICASA has to protect how we function and illegal devices interfere with our GSM signals. It is so bad that 8ta and Vodacom had sent teams of technicians to investigate.

Laws are there to protect a d the arrogance of some spoils the quality of life of others, if we all follow protocol, drive decently and not transgress, the world may become a better place for all.

Get the facts and refrain from having an opinion. read the act. It is alos illegal to import these.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but what?
 
reneg8or said:
Why specualte instead of educating yourself? It was stated in major newspapers that a certain wealthy suburb's residents experience so much interference from the plethora of illegal wireless devices, that ICASA will be testing for signals, then knock and confiscate, it was stated clearly that having such a device in your possession is a criminal offence.

ICASA has to protect how we function and illegal devices interfere with our GSM signals. It is so bad that 8ta and Vodacom had sent teams of technicians to investigate.

Laws are there to protect a d the arrogance of some spoils the quality of life of others, if we all follow protocol, drive decently and not transgress, the world may become a better place for all.

Get the facts and refrain from having an opinion. read the act. It is alos illegal to import these.
Click to expand...

Yup, I can concur.

The same happened with the UHF and VHF frequencies, with license owners have problems with others transmitting on and listening in on their frequencies. If ICASA catches you with a frequency in your possession which you are not allowed to have... the fine is in the tens of thousands per violation.
 
froot said:
Yup, I can concur.

The same happened with the UHF and VHF frequencies, with license owners have problems with others transmitting on and listening in on their frequencies. If ICASA catches you with a frequency in your possession which you are not allowed to have... the fine is in the tens of thousands per violation.
Click to expand...

I still don't see the relevance of this in relation to the OP wanting to purchase a WiFi router?

My understanding is that it would connect using one of the standard protocols and frequencies for IEEE 802.11, and I assume that ICASA would have already approved devices that operate within that spectrum, or rather the range as a whole? How would they determine then that the OP in this instance is on an "illegal" frequency?
 
Maverick Jester said:
I still don't see the relevance of this in relation to the OP wanting to purchase a WiFi router?

My understanding is that it would connect using one of the standard protocols and frequencies for IEEE 802.11, and I assume that ICASA would have already approved devices that operate within that spectrum, or rather the range as a whole? How would they determine then that the OP in this instance is on an "illegal" frequency?
Click to expand...

True. ICASA should travel around where interference occurs, but then only confiscate items when they have irrefutable proof the item is the cause. And perhaps maybe, just maybe, the signal was too weak in some instances, and maybe the wrong people are blamed.

But again "POSSESSION" is not illegal. OPERATION is. I just dislike when people are careless with their language.
 
Space_Chief said:
True. ICASA should travel around where interference occurs, but then only confiscate items when they have irrefutable proof the item is the cause. And perhaps maybe, just maybe, the signal was too weak in some instances, and maybe the wrong people are blamed.

But again "POSSESSION" is not illegal. OPERATION is. I just dislike when people are careless with their language.
Click to expand...

But ICASA being ICASA, this won't happen.

And I agree with you on the operation vs. possession point. I would think that ICASA's policies are as enforceable as the TV license policies.
 
I think a lot of smoke is being blasted about. IIRC the telecommunications legislation which they depend on render both possession and operation an offence but this doesn't override the common law approach to interpretation of statutes or common sense or the general approach to criminal matters: de minimis non curat praetor

It is illegal to posses a whole array of things but if you are walking to the cop shop with an illegal firearm you aren't going to be charged with anything if you cooperate in explaining how it came into your possession. If you buy a wifi device abroad (router, laptop, tablet etc ...) and come into SA with it and the relevant transmission system is certified in that country but hasn't been checked here it is unlikely that once it passes customs anybody will give a damn if you aren't operating it in a manner that interferes with other peoples equipment. If you import a whole bunch of devices that are not type certified to sell to other people they will nail you for possession regardless of operation. My laptop has got a little ICASA sticker at the bottom and pretty much every radio device I've bought (except for "ordinary radios" paradoxically (but they only receive) since I can remember has the little approval mark and I pretty much always spot an ICASA approval on the box when looking but I highly doubt that ICASA would dare to argue in court that somebody who happens to have possession of an unapproved and therefore illegal wireless devices is guilty of the offence of possession because invariably the question of whether the person had the necessary intention and the very constitutionality of the offence would come into question if pushed to hard.
I cannot see a single charge sheet ever being drawn for a possession in possession of a household's worth of devices what I can imagine is a charge sheet with several charges - which could include fraud, utterance, tax evasion etc ... - having charges pertaining to possession of unlawful wireless equipment being used in cases involving people selling such devices.

What is also clear in the regulations, forms and so on is that equipment type approval is needed for any type of usage.
 
^^I agree with Paul - your chances of getting charges with any kind of criminal misconduct is very remote. The policy is in place for all communication devices, with very few exclusions to the policy. That includes all devices transmitting Bluetooth, Wifi, 2G, 3G.... Meaning that your laptop should carry an ICASA sticker.

Also, to clarify, going by the letter of the policy ICASA doesn't type approve technology - all Wifi devices aren't covered simply because they comply to the 802.x spec. ICASA wants to type approve products. I.e. if you bring in a Wifi router, that router needs to be type approved irrespective of the numerous Wifi devices already type approved.

We've had problems with interference in regulated spectrum before. As far as I know ICASA first switched off the offending equipment, and after the owner switched it back on several times, ICASA finally removed it. No charges, no penalties. I wasn't there, though, so I'm commenting based on hearsay on this one.
 
reneg8or said:
Why specualte instead of educating yourself? It was stated in major newspapers that a certain wealthy suburb's residents experience so much interference from the plethora of illegal wireless devices, that ICASA will be testing for signals, then knock and confiscate, it was stated clearly that having such a device in your possession is a criminal offence.

ICASA has to protect how we function and illegal devices interfere with our GSM signals. It is so bad that 8ta and Vodacom had sent teams of technicians to investigate.

Laws are there to protect a d the arrogance of some spoils the quality of life of others, if we all follow protocol, drive decently and not transgress, the world may become a better place for all.

Get the facts and refrain from having an opinion. read the act. It is alos illegal to import these.
Click to expand...

Its true, they have the most hassle with cordless telephones.
Still I wish they wouldnt spend their time running after soft targets and would actually deliver on some of their promises. LLU etc are nowhere near where they were supposed to be.
 
They should really call it device approval as it isn't really type approval. The latter should cover all devices that meet some standard. If from a legitimate manufacturer a specification sheet should be considered sufficient to show it is covered by a pre-existing approval. A problem with looking for interference is that approved products can and do interfere with other devices that use the same frequency range. Plus sealed devices like mobile phones typically don't have a sticker on them anyway. Usually it is then on the box, which will eventually be lost or thrown away, so there is no way to later prove this is the specific specially approved device.
 
noxibox said:
They should really call it device approval as it isn't really type approval. The latter should cover all devices that meet some standard. If from a legitimate manufacturer a specification sheet should be considered sufficient to show it is covered by a pre-existing approval. A problem with looking for interference is that approved products can and do interfere with other devices that use the same frequency range. Plus sealed devices like mobile phones typically don't have a sticker on them anyway. Usually it is then on the box, which will eventually be lost or thrown away, so there is no way to later prove this is the specific specially approved device.
Click to expand...

http://m.bizcommunity.com/Article.aspx?l=196&c=78&i=90593
 
Yes, thanks, we all know the cordless phone story. Completely irrelevant in regards to type approval not really meaning type approval and the known fact that approved products cause interference.
 
wetkit said:
@millerslocal, question is, why do you need to import the item?
Is it not locally available?
Click to expand...

I'm bringing back home with me a router with 4 antennas from Korea, that will hopefully cover our whole house. In SA they a thousand rand plus - I got one for R400 with the horrible exchange rate. It's annoying only having Wifi in one part of the house. I wanna see ICASA come knocking on my door.
 
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