By Sam Bunyon, Oct 23 2002
"After reading the article 'The battle for Wireless Data' on Wi-Fi on Thefeature.com I feel compelled to reply. Some of this article was good and some of it even had a factual base. But a lot of it involved extrapolating an American view of 'Wireless' on to the rest of the world ... with predictable and highly debateable results. In order to redress this perceived imbalance I'll put forward this more 'European' view, by way of comments to the original article.
My viewpoint and perspective are very much as a fan of WLAN myself. I do believe this is a very good technology, with a lot of potential for low-cost networks which grow organically to serve communities of users. I think Bluetooth is an even better technology in this context, being cheaper and more phone-centric, but that's another discussion entirely.
What I don't like to see though, is Wi-Fi being promoted while glossing over all the issues which it has yet to resolve. Many of those issues are the reason, today, for the worldwide dominance of 2nd generation digital Cellular and specifically GSM.
I therefore have the following comments on this article to illustrate what I mean.
- For a start it's worth noting that 2 years ago WLAN was also going to be the biggest thing since the Internet. Watch those WLAN companies stock prices go ! And at the same time anyone with a bit of insight could see that the writing was on the wall for 3G - a lot of money for not a lot more than what you got with GPRS.
- WLAN has impressive speeds. But these are shared between all users in a Cell. 11Mbps and 54 Mbps are brochure speeds with a limited bearing on real life. If you added all the channels in a Cellular base station together you will also get a high number.
- In Europe virtually no-one drives down the highway and starts a laptop session. This is viewed as bizarre behaviour. I realise it's common in the US, but that's the US only. Given WLAN is not so much a mobile as a nomadic technology I'm not sure roadsides will be particularly happy hunting grounds for coverage. This technology was not designed for vehicles and neither will its coverage be.
- You are describing WLAN as a computer technology. 3G is for phones. Not many people carry computers or even PDA's about if you look at it statistically, as opposed to referencing our own behaviour working in the 'high-tech' industries.
- "The carriers aren't going anywhere near this" ? All of them seem to be playing with WLAN at present, in one form or another.
- 'Losing ownership of the subscriber is interesting'. Does this mean the subscriber can just use WLAN for free and get access wherever it exists. Or do they have to pay, or get a user-ID, and belong to someone else they probably don't care much for. I suspect the latter.
- 'Dumb Pipes', always puzzles me. If I take GSM as an example this dumb pipe authenticates me, manages my mobility, allows me to use my phone throughout the world, charges and bills me, encrypts my data, and more. All before I get near any Internet or content or whatever. 'dumb' is the last word I'd use. It's very clever and even it's basic parts have value to me. And all in one nice little SIM card enclosed in a neat and cheap phone.
- 'The only thing holding carriers back is that WLAN undermines their own 3G investments'. Well there is that. But not to forget WLAN 'Issues' which are not solved in some cases. In no particular order ...
(1) it's only suitable for computers - PDA's at a push, not phones,
(2) Poor security and susceptability to attack,
(3) Poor mobility management and roaming capability,
(4) Patchy interoperability,
(5) Interference problems which are not controllable so service cannot be guaranteed,
(6) Unconvincing business models,
(7) limited range,
(8) battery consumption, etc, etc...
- Wi-Fi and 3G as complementary. Maybe, one for niche (computers) and one for mass-market (phones). And please go easy about the convergence of these devices. It isn't happening, commercially.
- 15 million Wi-Fi spots around the world ! That I can use with my Wi-Fi terminal ? In our dreams only, I'm afraid.
- How can Wi-Fi be an underdog with the whole of USA Inc. and the IT Industry behind it ?
WLAN may well succeed. Hopefully it does. Everyone should have cheap high-speed wireless access. But the key issue is for what market segment, and specifically what user devices. I'm not sure it can sustain the global market of people who stop their cars for a laptop session. Or even need external access for their laptop in airports and hotels. We, as workers in this industry, may appreciate this - but how many of us are there (left) ?
We need to move away from a single technology evangelical approach. No wireless technology is so good it can address all our needs.
But who's big enough to put together a multi-access solution?
Or who's prepared to wait for it to grow from the ground up ?