Mobility Site - View Single Post - Cringely on "How WhyFi can turn hotspots into a real industry"

JeffLewis · 01-10-04, 02:39 AM

I'd like to offer a somewhat different perspective if I may. This entire analysis has started from a basic assumption - that WiFi is a good way to provide wide area, general public network access. I argue that it isn't.

It has a number of critical problems that argue against it's use. First, the range is too small. To effectively cover any serious area, you need a large number of transceivers. It's not really cost effective. Cell phones work because there is an infrastructure in place to cover large areas. Infrastructures of this scale are almost impossible to build on an adhoc basis. The cost of maintenance alone increases too quickly.

The other problem with this specific aspect is that unlike cell phones, which have a large general use base, and a number of secondary benefits - all of which are relatively easy to use, such as SMS, 1X/GPRS, WebSurfing and so on - the primary use of a WiFi network is access the web, which is much less usable, and far less consistent.

As a result, WiFi use is sporadic at best and the device of choice will have variable levels of compatibility with the network. Worse, there's no general purpose WiFi device - that is to say, a device which is dedicated to using the WiFi network - you essentially always start with a small general purpose computer which from time to time connects to the WiFi network. That means that most of the WiFi network will be low use and difficult to make pay for itself.

There are only two group with the skills and resources to build an infrastructure this large: cablecos and telcos. The telcos just don't have a compelling reason to build it. They already have cellphones and they'd rather you connect to the web via 1G or GPRS. Cablecos really don't deal with 'broadcast' data, and when they do, they become cellphone telcos - with the same reasons not to provide a parallel network.

The right solution is to find a way to get telcos to reduce their data costs and provide easier ways to connect a cellphone to a PDA or laptop - say by Bluetooth or even 802.11b between the handset and the PDA or by GPRS CF card.

01-10-04, 02:39 AM	#15 (permalink)
JeffLewis Aximsite Minor League Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 206 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I'd like to offer a somewhat different perspective if I may. This entire analysis has started from a basic assumption - that WiFi is a good way to provide wide area, general public network access. I argue that it isn't. It has a number of critical problems that argue against it's use. First, the range is too small. To effectively cover any serious area, you need a large number of transceivers. It's not really cost effective. Cell phones work because there is an infrastructure in place to cover large areas. Infrastructures of this scale are almost impossible to build on an adhoc basis. The cost of maintenance alone increases too quickly. The other problem with this specific aspect is that unlike cell phones, which have a large general use base, and a number of secondary benefits - all of which are relatively easy to use, such as SMS, 1X/GPRS, WebSurfing and so on - the primary use of a WiFi network is access the web, which is much less usable, and far less consistent. As a result, WiFi use is sporadic at best and the device of choice will have variable levels of compatibility with the network. Worse, there's no general purpose WiFi device - that is to say, a device which is dedicated to using the WiFi network - you essentially always start with a small general purpose computer which from time to time connects to the WiFi network. That means that most of the WiFi network will be low use and difficult to make pay for itself. There are only two group with the skills and resources to build an infrastructure this large: cablecos and telcos. The telcos just don't have a compelling reason to build it. They already have cellphones and they'd rather you connect to the web via 1G or GPRS. Cablecos really don't deal with 'broadcast' data, and when they do, they become cellphone telcos - with the same reasons not to provide a parallel network. The right solution is to find a way to get telcos to reduce their data costs and provide easier ways to connect a cellphone to a PDA or laptop - say by Bluetooth or even 802.11b between the handset and the PDA or by GPRS CF card.