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WiFi Offloading is Skyrocketing

dkatana writes: WiFi Offloading is skyrocketing. This is the conclusion of a new report from Juniper Research, which points out that the amount of smartphone and tablet data traffic on WiFi networks will will increase to more than 115,000 petabytes by 2019, compared to under 30,000 petabytes this year, representing almost a four-fold increase. Most of this data is offloaded to consumer's WiFi by the carriers, offering the possibility to share your home internet connection in exchange for "free" hotspots. But this article on InformationWeek Network Computing also warns that "The capacity of the 2.4GHz band is reaching its limit. [...] the growing number of WiFi devices using unlicensed bands is seriously affecting network efficiency. Capacity is compromised by the number of simultaneously active devices, with transmission speeds dropping as much as 20% of the nominal value. With the number of IoT and M2M applications using WiFi continuously rising, that could become a serious problem soon."

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  1. Re:Where do I send ... by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Where do I send ... my bill when my carrier exceeds the cap I imposed on their use of my WiFi hub?

    This is really the whole thing.

    ISP-imposed hotspots (all I've seen) require you to log in to the carrier before you can use them. So if you're a Comcast customer, you log in with your Comcast ID, and you're on the 'net. Whoopie.

    The problem, of course, is that this is just a "foot in the door" to charging you for that usage.

    That's why I, and EFF, say you should set up your own public WiFi hotspots, bypassing those imposed by your ISP.

    I've had a NON-ISP open WiFi hotspot -- with pretty damned good range -- for about 5 years now, and only had one tiny problem with a neighborhood teenager abusing it. Nipped that right in the bud, and I didn't even have to ban her. (In fact I think she was pretty freaked out by getting the .mp3 file that called her by name and politely told her to knock it off. Ghost in the machine.)