1 In 3 Home Routers Will Be Used As Public Wi-Fi Hotspots By 2017

An anonymous reader writes: Juniper Research predicts that at least 1 in 3 home routers will be used as public Wi-Fi hotspots by 2017, and that the total installed base of such dual-use routers will reach 366 million globally by the end of 2020. Major broadband operators such as BT, UPC and Virgin Media in Europe and several of the biggest cable TV operators in the U.S. such as Comcast and Cablevision have adopted the homespot model as a low-cost way of rapidly expanding their domestic Wi-Fi coverage.

Comments

I saw it coming

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know about you, but the first time I saw one of these ADSL modem/802.11 access-point boxes from AT&T with all kinds of dark settings about second-channel 802.11 access that I thought, "sumbitch--they want to turn these into access points for their customers to roam". Whenever I see one of these, I work to disable that second-channel function.

I rather have my own equipment, thank you. I have a DOCSYS 3 cable modem and a separate router box. Sometimes (generally less than once a month) I enable the 802.11 on that router--and turn it off once I don't need it any more.

Re:I saw it coming

[blackomegax]

You must never have done math. wifi chips consume 100-200 milliwatts, max, and that's under load. Idle is much lower. That's less than 10 cents a month, full tilt.

Re:I saw it coming

[edtice1559]

Those who opt-in will be allowed to use all of the APs that are part of the service. Those who don't can pay for 3G/4G when they're not at home.

Conflicting goals

[CrankyOldEngineer]

How will ISPs help enforce copyright laws if they don't know who is using your router?

Re:Have I Missed something?

[ShanghaiBill]

This benefits the owner of the router how exactly?

In a competitive market, it would mean lower prices.

In a monopolistic market, it doesn't matter if the customer benefits, because the customer doesn't have any choice.

Re:No Thanks

[The-Ixian]

I have an open wifi hotspot that I let anyone use.

I am in an apartment building and the SSID is: Free_Internet_Courtesy_of_apartment_311

I am happy to let my neighbors use my Internet. I certainly don't utilize it fully myself (I have 1Gb up/down).

I remember when I first moved in. I didn't have the Internet lined up right away and was using a neighbor's open wifi for about a week. I was so grateful for that I decided I would give back.