WIFI Could Lose The Battle!

[Looxer]

Many telecom companies are testing UMTS worldwide and soon to be implemented and it is much faster than GPRS for wireless Internet connections. I would like to ask the experts here if you can justify why people might use WIFI over UMTS? Can you compare these two based on wireless Internet access?

[Janak Parekh]

Because it's still much faster than UMTS? UMTS might one day approach Wi-Fi speeds, but we're talking 5-15 years from now. Cutting-edge today is 2-3mbps, but without a ton of people on the network. And that has yet to be installed. Practical estimated speeds in 2-5 years will be, perhaps, 512kbps. And with much greater latency. Oh, and don't forget the cost...

On the other hand, coveragewise, I still believe that UMTS/cdma2000 will be much, much greater than WiFi, and as such will be a very useful product. A number of my co-workers disagree with me; we'll see what happens. ;)

--janak

[Pony99CA]

I would like to ask the experts here if you can justify why people might use WIFI over UMTS?
I'm no expert, but how about price? With WiFi, I can buy the equipment and use it in my house for free. UMTS (or any phone-based system) will require me to pay a provider. (I'm assuming you'll still have an ISP regardless, of course.)

Now, if you're talking about accessing the Internet anywhere, things may change. Unless you can find free WiFi access points, you'll have to pay for that, too, and those costs seem to vary widely.

Steve

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I'm no expert on UMTS, but isn't comparing this with WiFi apples-to-oranges? WiFi to me is wireless Ethernet connectivity to my own LAN. UMTS sounds like a standard to replace GPRS, which has never been confused as a WIFI competitor.

[Looxer]

I'm no expert on UMTS, but isn't comparing this with WiFi apples-to-oranges? WiFi to me is wireless Ethernet connectivity to my own LAN. UMTS sounds like a standard to replace GPRS, which has never been confused as a WIFI competitor.

I concur, but it is different in other applications, and similar for the concept of wireless internet, you can compare WIFI hotspots with UMTS coverage. If you are a traveler or a mobile business user which one is more convenient for you? Which service is superior to satisfy your Internet wireless needs? :)

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I concur, but it is different in other applications, and similar for the concept of wireless internet, you can compare WIFI hotspots with UMTS coverage. If you are a traveler or a mobile business user which one is more convenient for you? Which service is superior to satisfy your Internet wireless needs? :)
Oh, I get what you're asking now... It suddenly made sense after reading this post and then re-reading your original one.

I've yet to use a public or 3rd party WiFi hotspot (I have WiFi network installed at my home for my own purposes), so that angle had never occured to me.

[JoeMoon]

Every successful technology is not neccessarily technology driven, but rather consumer driven. Great concepts, ideas, products and services fall to their graves never reaching the goals and heights the founders and investors thought they would reach when they set out with their ideas.

WiFi is now at a place where every Tom, Dick and Harry can affordably purchase the equipment and get into or onto a WiFi LAN. This exponential growth in product sales creates a large consumer base. Those consumers are now looking to have their hunger satisfied - Thusly, WiFi networks and hotspots are showing up all over the place. Intel, seeing this has already begun work on creating a universal SSID protocol so that the consumer does not have to keep track of multiple SSID for each hotspot and network.

I call this an industry force... Started by the consumers to catch on with a good technology and then driving the industries to perfect it. When something like that comes along, it is difficult for a new technology to overturn it. The consumer does not want to immediately give up his/her investment. Rather they will hang in their as long as it works, and they see a return on their investment - which in this case would be usage or network access.

In short, WiFi has gained much momentum in the last several months. My perdiction is that it will the largest network protocol any of us has ever seen or heard about.

Joe...

[JvanEkris]

Because NONE of the telco's can afford to build UMTS-networks. They all are dollars away from bancrupcy because of the license fees. No coverage, no pay-off. Most Telco's have considered a loss now, even most forward countries (norway, sweden) have problems getting UMTS coverage, and the telco's have delayed the projects deliberatly.

Jaap

[don dre]

Equally important, predictions for the future assume that WiFi will remain at 2-3 MBPS (which we know is not true) adn that its range will remain limited. This also is not true. Companies are developing ways to expand wifi's range to several miles. in this case it could be a direct competitor not only to UMTS but to cable and DSL.