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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."

5 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
  2. Yeah.....the FCC, they'll show us the way!!! by billmaly · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh yes please...get the Feds involved...everything they deal with turns golden, and smells nice too!!! Maybe RIAA has a few points to add to the mix as well. Stir in a Congressional sub committee or two, mention that pr0n will fill the airwaves, and you gotch yoself a recipe for a WINNING standard.

  3. Reading too much in to Wi-Fi. by laserjet · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think this article reads too much into current Wi-Fi. All these people say that this and this needs to be done for Wi-Fi for it to grow, but it is growing at a furious pace already.

    I think they overestimate what the current Wi-Fi is for. It is so limited, than market demand will certainly open up new avenues for wireless networking. This is how the tech industry is. Don't expect to be buying the same ol' 802.11b technology that you use today in three years - it won't happen. We always have new stuff.

    That's what I hate about articles like this - they always state all the things wrong with a technology that we already know about, and they forget that when the demand rises for high-scalability and secure networks, then something will come to the rescue. If we can't get more bandwidth from the FCC, then they will have to figure out someway to get more out of the bandwidth.

    I use Wi-Fi for what it is made for TODAY: medium to small networks where security is not paramount and mobility is.

    And I, for one, will watch the great economy work and create new solutions as people are willing and needing to buy them.

    --
    Moon Macrosystems. Sun's biggest competitor.
  4. why are we securing it this way? by Raleel · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I will probably get beaten down for this, but it seems to me that integrating encryption directly into the media is probably not the right approach for this. There _are_ systems that do work rather well. Let's take, for instance, a system like they have in hotels, where you have to log into a web page before you are even routed. Combine this with the simple rule of "never put your wireless net behind your main firewall" and you can sleep a little better at night.

    Design a system that has protections beyond something built into the media. The medias function is _not_ to provide security, but rather to communicate.

    --
    -- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
  5. Re:mmm....wireless by clnelson · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hmm. I'm reading that same article. Also over your Wi-Fi connection. Thanks. It IS pretty cool.