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I love WiFi! |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
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Further to my comments about not taking the V800 with 3G in my V800 review the Delta lounge where I spend a nice quiet couple of hours at the end of my working week have now introduced a t-mobile hotspot so I now get full wireless broadband where I used to have to do bluetooth/GPRS for 1/3rd cost for 10 times the speed!
This, combined with my BT Openzone experiences further makes me think WiFi is the way to go for fast data rather than 3G
BT openzone even has roaming in Europe and Australia.
I'd like to hear from people who use hotspots as much as I do... its great! and so much more reliable than GPRS etc
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Unless I'm very much mistaken...
my reviews: V800 K700i (coming soon: V3)
[ This Message was edited by: masseur on 2004-11-19 16:54 ] |
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scotsboyuk
Joined: Jun 02, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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@masseur
I think that the future may actually be a combination of 3G and Wi-Fi, a very nice prospect indeed.
"I may be drunk my dear woman, but in the morning I will be sober, and you will still be ugly." WSC |
Krubach
Joined: Dec 05, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Sunny Portugal! :)
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I must disagree with you.
I think that WiMax will prevail in the end...
[addsig] |
scotsboyuk
Joined: Jun 02, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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@Krubach
The problem with your view is that it fails to take into account the determination of the networks to make 3G work. The networks have spent huge amounts of money on 3G licences, they need to make them work to recoup those costs.
I think we shall see a merging of 3G and Wi-Fi services in that they will used side by side. One will use a Wi-Fi connection when in urban areas and switch to 3G when in rural areas or those areas outside W-Fi coverage.
"I may be drunk my dear woman, but in the morning I will be sober, and you will still be ugly." WSC |
Elrond
Joined: May 14, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Slovakia
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I use WiFi as my internet connection and I'm rather dissapointed. I share it with 7 more people and when they downloading something, then the speed is like dialup, but when I'm alone, then it's pretty fast. So I recommend my friends to go for DSL rather then Wi-Fi, as in DSL there is no agregation. Ok, in WiFi too, but then I would must pay 6000 Sk a month, wich is around 150 euro and that's hell to much.
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dave_uk
Joined: Mar 06, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: London, UK
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I'm with scotty - T-Mobile have around 10,000 Hot Spots in the UK, pr so they say, and are soon to release their combined 3G/GPRS/Wi-Fi datacard. O2 also have a similar product which combines all 3 into one card.
The fact is that the frequency of hotspots would have to increase massively for this to be more widely adopted. And most of the companies providing Wi-Fi points of presence also have an interest in 3G (BT soon will, or I'll be a monkey's uncle!)and, having spent £22bn between them in licences, are unlikely to promote Wi-Fi at the expense of 3G.
So, I think integration will be the future, although Wi-Fi seems a much smoother and faster connection method at the moment.
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scotsboyuk
Joined: Jun 02, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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@dave_uk
Indeed, we shouldn't assume 3G is dead in the water just because it is taking time to implement. The networks just have too much of an interest in 3G to not make it work.
"I may be drunk my dear woman, but in the morning I will be sober, and you will still be ugly." WSC |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
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I can only go back to my original reason for preferring WiFi over 3G data and that is cost. I bought a 3 hour package (since it was my first time using a t-mobile hotspot) and it cost 14 euros, thats a shade under 10 pounds.
Can you imagine how much it would cost for 3 hours of data on 3G?
On 3G you are charged by the Kb rather than by time so I guess if you didn't do much while using 3G you could end up cheaper but whats the point of that? for my 14 euros I could do whatever I wanted without the worry of how many Kb I was using and thats how it should be.
no, sorry, I can't agree that 3G will ever co-exist favourably with WiFi for data use while they continue to charge so exhorbitantly per kb and while the proliferation of hotspots increases and yes, with WiMAX that choice will be made even easier for me
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plasmadog
Joined: May 06, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Beantown, India
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i think its eventually upto the end users to decide what kind of service they want and how much they're willing to pay for it. on the outset, it does appear that wi-fi has a distinct advantage over 3g when it comes to speed and cost (2 most important factors).
maybe, in the future mobile companies will have to do one of two things to offset the huge losses they might incur if 3g fails.
1. to make 3g cheaper so that more people use it and probably they can make some money out of it.
2. have some sort of revenue sharing agreement with individual governments rather than out and out purchase of licenses. (this is hard to implement but it will be a lot more easier on the mobile telephony provider's pockets).
also, mobile phone companies do have considerable lobbying power within the bureaucracy more than the wi-fi ones. (with respect to revenues arising from taxes and licenses). so governments themselves wouldn't want the mobile operators to sink. and in future we might see a limit on the wi-max services that might be provided.
another scenario that one might envision is the integration of wi-max and 3g. at the moment, a considerably more mobility is being provided by 3g than wi-fi. so this is a possibility. (something the nokia 9500 and the hp 6000 series have).
but as i said, it's really upto the consumers to decide what they want... and tech companies will have to cater to that need.
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Posted: 2004-11-19 17:54
K750i, Nokia 6120c and a HP iPAQ hx4700 
