Wi-Fi, the People’s Network, Still Spreading Rapidly

– Over 300m Wi-Fi Chipsets to Ship in 2007, 700m by 2011
– New Version, Enhancements, Promise Faster Speeds, Greater Coverage & Easier Set-up

Say what you will about Wi-Fi’s shortcomings in handling high-def video because of speed and security limitations, but it has one thing going for it that no other home network technology does: It’s far and away the most popular as shown by the fact that 300 million Wi-Fi chipsets will be shipped this year, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance and In-Stat. The two say that continuing strength in PCs with built-in Wi-Fi and growth in the use of Wi-Fi in phones such as the iPhone and consumer electronics such as the iPod touch will propel Wi-Fi chipset sales past 700 million units in 2011.

The 300 million expected this year represents a 41% growth rate from 213 million chipsets in 2006.

Broad criticisms of Wi-Fi include:

– Difficulty of installation, especially setting up security. Best Buy and RadioShack have said that more than 25% of the Wi-Fi gear they sell is returned because consumers cannot get it installed and working properly.

– A single Wi-Fi router does not, in many cases, cover the whole home.

– Wi-Fi security, because it uses unlicensed spectrum, is easily hacked into, allowing for the possibility that neighbors and passersby can illegally copy or view copyrighted content.

– Wi-Fi does not have the guaranteed bandwidth that insures flicker-free video streams.

Wi-Fi: The People’s Network
Wi-Fi is appealing because it’s considered the people’s network – something that consumers can set up by themselves and are totally in control of. Anyone can go to an electronics store and pick up a router and Wi-Fi-enabled devices and build a wireless home network – for not a lot of money. Phone (both cellular and wireless) and CE gear makers are finally starting to take advantage of Wi-Fi’s widespread use by building it into their devices. Why shouldn’t digital cameras come with Wi-Fi built in so picture takers can easily and instantly upload pictures to personal or social networking sites? Why shouldn’t mobile phones have Wi-Fi that automatically switches to making free and near-free VoIP calls over the Net when in a Wi-Fi hotspot?

“Consumers have come to expect Wi-Fi as a feature in many more devices than notebook computers, and manufacturers have responded accordingly,” said Jonathan Gruber, research analyst at In-Stat. “Wi-Fi connectivity was included on virtually all gaming devices and an increasing number of handsets and music players this year, and we expect the overall proportion of consumer devices incorporating Wi-Fi to continue to grow for 2008.”

In-Stat predicts that by 2011, about 700 million devices will ship with Wi-Fi built-in and by that time, Wi-Fi-enabled consumer electronics and phones will begin to exceed notebook computers in the total number of shipments.

Inclusion of Wi-Fi in consumer electronics became more widespread this year, with the 802.11g standard wirelessly connecting some of the most popular consumer gadgets, including phones, music players and gaming devices. The June 2007 introduction of certification for products based upon 802.11n draft 2.0 helped boost sales of new higher-throughput products to 9% of total shipments.

The Wi-Fi crowd has developed something called Wi-Fi Protected Setup to make it easier for consumers to set up a protected Wi-Fi network.

“This was truly a banner year for the Wi-Fi industry, and we expect to see the strong growth continue,” said Wi-Fi Alliance senior director Karen Hanley. She said the faster “n” version and the new Wi-Fi Protected Setup would contribute to a “continued growth of Wi-Fi in a wide variety of devices.”

The “n” version promises up to five times the throughput and twice the coverage area range of previous Wi-Fi versions.

All Wi-Fi-certified devices have passed rigorous interoperability tests and meet WPA2 security requirements. More than 4,100 products have been Wi-Fi-certified so far.

The Wi-Fi Alliance, a global, non-profit industry association of more than 300 member companies, is devoted to promoting the growth of wireless local area networks.

Steps That Lead to an Open Access, High-speed, Wireless Internet

The impact of a world in which everyone is carrying in their pocket or purse a wireless battery operated device that can access the Net at high speeds has not been calculated. Most of us are still trying to figure out all the ramifications of open range Internet access at home and its impact on the entertainment, healthcare, educational and shopping industries. A truly mobile, truly open Internet has enormous ramifications on the world’s economies and people’s lifestyles.

In the last six months a number of announcement have seemed to indicate a strong move to an open access, high-speed, wireless Internet – one that would operate at speeds and with capabilities to the Internet access that many now have at home.

– Google pushes the FCC to mandate that some of the spectrum coming up for bid in January 2008 be open access. The FCC voted in July to require the open access provisions on part of the new spectrum.

– Google promises to bid on spectrum that can be used to build an open access wireless network.

– Apple says it will open the iPhone to third-party software developers.

– Sprint says it’s on target to begin testing its WiMAX-based network by year-end 2007 despite its financial problems and turmoil in its management ranks.

– Google announces development of a free and open source operating system called Android for mobile devices.

– Google forms an industry group called the Open Handset Alliance that will oversee the continuing development of Android.

– Verizon Wireless says it will open its existing cellular network to third-party devices, software and online services.

– Verizon Wireless selects LTE (Long Term Evolution) as the technology for its next-generation network, which will compete with the WiMAX-based wireless network that Sprint is building. Vodafone also commits to testing LTE on its mobile networks.

– Verizon Wireless says it will support devices that run Google’s Android operating system on its current and future wireless networks.

– Verizon says LTE makes it possible to integrate wireless services and its fiber-based FiOS network.

Next?

And where is the “new” AT&T headed in this always-and-everywhere connected world?

Boingo Connects Wi-Fi Networks Worldwide

Boingo Wireless is offering a one-click access to one of the world’s largest networks of Wi-Fi hotspots by partnering with fellow Wi-Fi leaders AT&T, BT, Openzone, Wayport, Korea Telecom and T-Mobile. With more than 150 Wi-Fi operators, over 100,000 hotspots and almost 500 SSIDs, Boingo is simplifying worldwide connectivity into a single username, password and payment. An SSID is a unique identifier attached to the header of packets sent over a WLAN that acts as a password when a mobile device tries to connect to a hotspot.

In addition to its partnerships to ease hotspot access for travelers, Boingo has kept itself pretty busy. It recently partnered with US cellco Alltel to launch Alltel Wi-Fi, a service that provides customers with instant laptop access to thousands of hotspots in North and South America. It also offers wireless broadband access via the Alltel Wireless Internet service, which provides Internet access from a laptop or smartphone at speeds up to 2.4 Mbps over Alltel’s nationwide data network.

This comes after Boingo acquired Wi-Fi networks at seven airports from Sprint Nextel. That gives Boingo 30 airports. The deal also allows Sprint Nextel subscribers to access any of Boingo’s hotspots worldwide.

Then there’s GoBoingo, the company’s new authentication utility for Windows XP and Vista. It automatically identifies if hotspots are associated with Boingo and helps initiate a login.

The subscriptions Boingo offers vary enough to be useful for different needs. For those who stay in North America, Boingo Unlimited offers unlimited access to hotspots in the US, Mexico and Canada starting at $21.95 a month. Roaming at Boingo hotspots elsewhere is billed to the user, most often 12 cents to 18 cents a minute.

Boingo Global is a $39-per-month package that gives access to all 100,000+ Boingo hotspots with no roaming fees or extra usage charges. This is the first worldwide flat-rate plan for hotspots.

Boingo As You Go is a package that charges the consumer only when he access a Boingo hotspot. In North America, it is $7.95 a day, and internationally it is $9.95 a day. For the international plan, roaming fees apply.

Boingo Mobile is a $7.95-per-month worldwide service downloadable for people with Wi-Fi enabled Nokia or Windows Media 5.0 devices. It comes embedded on the Belkin Wi-Fi phone for Skype. The Boingo Mobile system identifies hotspots and automatically logs its users in.