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Future of Wi-Fi

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the gimme-broadband-on-the-bus dept.

An anonymous reader writes "BusinessWeek looks at the The high hurdles facing Wi-Fi. Sure it's got promise but if overcrowded spectrum isn't destined to crimp its growth, it'll need better technology and regulatory help from the FCC."

7 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. The FCC is going to screw us by krog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The writeup is right; the FCC will need to give Wi-Fi a chance before it catches on. And the FCC won't, because the money-rich and power-hungry wireless companies and other broadcasting firms always manage to win somehow. If the FCC were interested in crawling out from beneath the desk of Big Business, then Wi-Fi would already be in motion.

    --
    Cretin - a powerful and flexible CD reencoder
    1. Re:The FCC is going to screw us by ethereal · · Score: 2, Insightful

      FCC Regulation is like Communism - it's never really been tried.

      Or, to be more precise: regulation in the public interest. The FCC is specifically chartered to not be required to act in the interests of the average citizen; they are aimed at preserving spectrum stability above all else, and spectrum stability is the friend of entrenched interests, not the little guy with the Next Big Idea. Even though Wi-Fi and LPFM might be the greatest communication improvements for civil society in this country, the FCC has a built-in bias against encouraging that sort of thing. So, it's not (entirely) that the FCC is unethically in bed with large, moneyed interests; it's more that the FCC is required to be in bed with them by act of Congress.

      If you want to live without fear of bad regulations from the FCC, then you first have to get Congress to recharter the FCC and direct it to act in the interests of all of the public.

      --

      Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and

  2. Security? by f00Dave · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Perhaps if the WiFi boxes sold to Joe Consumer didn't allow Just Anyone to use the gateway it wouldn't be a problem? Say, by silently rejecting non-approved MAC addresses, or by adding an HTTP 'login to use this proxy transparently for a few hours' layer on port 80 (to enable a limited-time session on that MAC).

    Those who don't want to sacrifice the ultimate in convenience (walk in to a friend's place and have their laptop be online, instantly), will have to accept that there are commensurate secutiry risks.

    Convenient or Secure: be it in WiFi or OS or even *gasp* Real Life, it's always a trade off....

    --
    .f00Dave
  3. Re:The biggest problem with wi-fi by Anonym1ty · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is exactly why many of us are so scared of regulation! Just regulate it completely out of existence

    If your kid is trolling around pornonet, you better think of something better than regulating WiFi or The Internet in general. If you can't figure out how to ground your kid from the computer, perhaps you should take one of those parenting workshops

    --
    See the Pictures of the Flood of '08
  4. Re:why are we securing it this way? by ericman31 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No, he's suggesting, correctly, that your wireless net be in a DMZ, rather than in your private network. If you wireless net is in your private network it violates one of the key principles of securing systems, which is to prevent physical access to the network. The wireless network, by its very nature, is not restricted by walls, cables, etc. If physical access to the network is possible, then it needs to be separated from your private network by firewalls.

    --
    In my universe I'm perfectly normal, it's not my fault you don't live in my universe.
  5. make it better by gummint · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Either your government is that greatest in the world or they are sold-out money grabbing pigs. You can't have both.

    How 'bout neither? More to the point, what should you do to try to get a better regulatory framework for Wi-Fi? Suggested actions:
    • Get informed. At the risk of generating bad karma, I suggest reading my paper on, "Revolutionary Ideas for Radio Regulation," available on www.galbithink.org.
    • Discuss the issue with friends. At the risk of being toasted, I suggest that most persons on Slashdot are not your friends. Try taking to some persons, face-to-face, full bandwidth-like. It's fun!
    • Get politically active. At the risk of seeming utterly uncool, I suggest ommunicating with the persons who serve you in government.

      Keep in mind that any proper subset of the points above is inefficacious. Doing all three will surely lead to an interesting life, if not better regulation. Go for it!
  6. Democracy as a means, not an END by argoff · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I would like to remind you that democracy is a means of protecting individual liberties, not an end in itself. It is a tool, and like any tool it can be abused. We could always vote away our freedom of speech, we could always vote in a "hitler" - but just because we voted it does not make it just or acceptable.

    Democracy is simply about people who have rights that exist above government who organize in the form of government to secure thir rights (which is also a right). If people wish to secure their rights in other ways too, that is their option - and in fact a duty if the current way isn't good enough.