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Wi-Fi Spreading Fast But Lacks Profits

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the wireless-fidelity-is-silly-jargon dept.

clapton_fan writes "The New York Times has a story that details the spread of wireless networks but says the concept has been short on profits thus far. Its growth is mainly attributable to homes and small businesses. Corporations are reluctant to embrace them because of security concerns. Meanwhile, Intel is planning to have every device that uses an Intel chip Wi-Fi enabled which will make it difficult for companies that sell Wi-Fi as an accessory to prosper."

9 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. How long do you think... by craenor · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Before this is considered a Utility? Everyone in the city will pay a monthly wi-fi bill, right along with gas, water and electric?

    I give it...twelve years.

    1. Re:How long do you think... by grumpygrodyguy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Before this is considered a Utility? Everyone in the city will pay a monthly wi-fi bill, right along with gas, water and electric?

      I swear it's so simple people...

      802.11 is FREE, all you need to do is buy a lousy wireless NIC and an AP. After that you get 10mbps, instead of crappy unreliable 1.5mbps from your cable/telco. But everyone needs to do this because it's all about peer sharing.

      We have an amazing opportunity staring us in the face right now. But if we don't get the ball rolling and protect our rights, some lame ass company is gonna buy out the airwaves and charge us for NOTHING(I.e. airwaves). Remember in "Space Balls" when they were breathing air out of cans? Seem a little rediculous to you? I hope so, because the same thing could very well happen to wireless internet.

      All that needs to happen is for Dell, Gateway, etc. to start packaging 802.11X ready computers. They won't do that until they are convinced it's a standard component(just like CD-Roms, soundcards, etc). That means people need to start getting a clue, and word needs to get out. Buy one of these things, and set up an AP! Or, if you're a software guy...write a good P2P sharing application.

      --
      The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky
    2. Re:How long do you think... by adolf · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm afraid I don't quite follow what you're saying.

      If I have an unrestricted 10Mbps between myself and my friends (and their friends, and their freinds' friends, and...), you better believe that MP3 will floweth freely amongst the group, without any one person needing to spend a dime.

      Of course, a number of these people will also subscribe to some form of consumer broadband. Not to mention those who rip their own CDs. There's just as many avenues for new material to enter the mix as there is for cross-pollenation of, say, Gnutella and Kazaa.

      And speaking of broadband, I pay ~$50/mo for 2000/384kbps RoadRunner. I can't fathom sharing a paltry 1536kbps amongst 10 of my greediest peers (I like burning ISOs in realtime as they download), nor can I imagine that sharing of such services would be tolerated for very long.

      --
      Kid-proof tablet..
  2. Intel receives further authority... by Alric · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I hope Intel does not gain a position from which it can push its own wifi standards. Compatibility is nice, but I would hate to see the large number of wifi gear manufacturers reduced to two or three, as is the case with cpu's.

  3. Re:Well by Apathy+costs+bills · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't think that the government has yet classified the use of 802.11 as terrorism, rather they have claimed that anyone running 802.11 without encryption or building devices capable of this are enabling terrorism. Which is in itself rather chilling and idiotic, but we should at least stick to being terrified of what the government is actually doing.

    --
    Kill Trolls Dead. Here's
  4. Wi-Fi as accessory? by cornjchob · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So, let me get this straight: because Intel packs wi-fi onto each intel chip, wi-fi won't sell as an accessory? Ah, yes, I see...just like how motherboard venders include sound and video, and as such, the video card and sound card industries flail in lack of funds.

    Oh wait, that's right...

    The gain from a chip and antennae embedded on a chip isn't going to be that great. Intel's mainly doing it for internal purposes. If you want any sort of range, add-ons and accessories are the only way to go, and I foresee absolutely no change in that.

    --
    We now have confirmed reports from an informed Orange County minister that Ethel is still an active communist.
  5. Re:Color me clueless, but... by goon+america · · Score: 3, Interesting
    What is so hot about WiFi, anyway?

    Convenience.

    It doesn't matter that it may lead to a lower quality end product, the fact is consumers *love* convenience, and are willing to trade off all sorts of other sources of value to get it.

    Of course cat5 is better. Everyone knows that. I use it. But it could take countless hours to put it in the walls, install wall plates, cut the patch cables to length, set up the hubs and routers in the basement.... and with WiFi all you need is one or two access points and an uplink and you'e all set. No assembly required.

  6. Hopefully before they make it illegal by cosmosis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My hope is that the adoption of wi-fi happens quick enough that attempts to outlawing it as a terrorist threat are thwarted by wide-spread common sense.

    Planet P - Liberation with Technology.

    --
    www.enthea.org
  7. P2P WiFi does not require profit to grow. by emptybody · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If all WiFi clients were also repeaters/bridges, the network would be supported and built by the users.

    The wired internet was not a for profit system.
    Why do people insist that WiFi must be for profit?

    public open WPOPs should be all over the place. The more a pop is used, and the more pops/users there are, the more the infrastructure supporting it will grow.

    By virtue of using the system you would add to it's range and capacity.

    Just think if all cars had a WiFi repeater installed in them. the Highway becomes a true information highway. Packets jumping from car to car to get from anywhere to anywhere.

    A previous slashdot article talked about doing this with Cell Phones. The logic is sound. There just has to be enough supporting users.

    --
    comment directly in my journal