Wi-fi: setting the internet free?

A recent Strategy Analytics report has revealed that one in five UK and US broadband users access the internet using a wireless network, prompting a claim that wi-fi is fast becoming a “mass market phenomenon.”

The ability to go online throughout your home and create networks of machines all without the need of pesky wires looks set to become as ubiquitous as broadband. And well it should. Wireless represents the ideal bed-fellow for high-speed internet connections and pretty soon the fun won’t stop at the exterior walls of our houses.

Wi-fi hotspots have been available in cafes, pubs and airports for some time. An assortment of websites can show you the locations of some 10,000 hot spots in the UK where you can take your lap top or wireless device and get online, but there appears to be some reticence amongst consumers to use these.

A recent Toshiba survey has revealed that just 11% of respondents used laptops in hotels, 7% on trains and 3% in coffee shops, compared to 55% who used them mostly at home. The reasons for this lack of use, appears to be a combination of a lack of understanding of the technology (20%) and online security fears (19%). Surely for the 15% who believe there are not enough hot spots, the prospect of broad wi-fi zones across cities would certainly make them embrace the technology?

There is a race between ISPs, technology providers and major media owners to be the first to provide blanket internet coverage to specific areas or entire cities.

BT has recently announced plans to create broad wi-fi zones, by fitting antenna to phone boxes, bus stops, benches and streetlights. 12 councils are already on board with the scheme that will provide internet access without the ties of cables by the beginning of 2007. Subscriptions will be offered for the service, or for intermittent use, pay as you go vouchers will be available.

The closest challenger to BT appears to be a coming from Europe’s largest wi-fi network provider, ethereally called, The Cloud. At the beginning of 2006 they began a major initiative to deploy widespread wireless broadband networks or internet ‘clouds’ over city centres across the UK. The Square Mile in London is the first to benefit from the Cloud’s initiative. Within six months the City is expected to be covered by a wi-fi network installed in existing street furniture including lamp posts and street signs, allowing City workers and visitors with wi-fi enabled devices to access the internet whilst on the move.

The Cloud may just succeed in their plan to bring broadband to the streets of the UK’s cities as they, crucially, represent no threat to ISPs. The Cloud's networks are open to any service provider who would like to provide advanced wireless services to their customers.

For the last year or so ISPs have been nervously looking over their shoulders as single service providers have been threatening to monoplise the provision of wi-fi across entire cities.

The city that never sleeps is on course to become the city that also is never offline. New York is planning to make wireless internet access available for free in Central Park and other public places anytime now. And in San Francisco a joint bid from Google and EarthLink has been chosen to provide the entire city with paid and free wireless internet access. Nervous ISPs can take comfort in the fact that the Google/ EarthLink at this stage is not powerful enough to adequately penetrate buildings. Also the free service only offers connection speeds of a relatively pedestrian 300kpbs, with $20 dollars the cost for a 1Mbps connection.

San Francisco could be the first of many cities to receive such an initiative, meaning the internet, already one of the most democratic mediums in history, could be offered for free across the world. One of the aims of the San Francisco wi-fi initiative is to bridge the ‘digital divide’, allowing lower income households to get online. Critics of the Google/ EarthLink service, however, believe this to be a touch idealistic and claim that in actual fact there will be no funding to make the internet more accessible to poorer residents of the Californian city.

Having witnessed how quickly new technologies connected to the internet have been absorbed into society over the past ten years, it would be unwise to bet against widespread free wireless access within the next two years.

So what will an ‘always online’ society mean to you and I? As with the advent of a number of new internet technologies we can look to South Korea to gauge the potential impact. Areas of Seoul are currently trialing wireless broadband – or Wibro. Wibro promises to offer high-speed internet connections, not just in open spaces but also in fast moving vehicles. There is a massive online-gaming market in South Korea and as the ipTV market widens, broadband on the go will enable internet-based interests to be pursued outside of the home.

But high-speed wi-fi will have the biggest impact on our working lives. It is a nice thought that the walls of the office are set to be expanded to include leafy parks and lengthy commutes. Being able to access your company’s network, email and download large files from wherever you are will certainly create a lot more working freedom.

But the negative side of this ‘always connected’ society is that you are never out of the office. Self-employed syndrome kicks in where you feel like you should always be working. Nearly 90% of respondents to the Toshiba survey said the big disadvantage of wireless was that it meant they worked longer hours. With as many as ten extra hours worked a week thanks to wireless. With wi-fi networks expanding, potentially, we will never actually leave the office. The Organisational Lives report from Orange succinctly sums up the plusses and minuses of increased mobile technology. "Mobile data will liberate those who find ways to use it selectively, while burdening those who fail to adapt their routine."

There are statistics to support the fact that work being conducted on the move is of a lower standard, compared to that produced in offices. In a survey carried out by PalmOne in late 2004, more than 50% of respondents said business relationships were being detrimentally affected by sloppy, mistake-ridden messages. A recent Guardian article on the subject of the change in corporate culture correctly argues that increased connectivity is certainly not a bad thing, we just have to be sure that we are in control of it and not vice versa.

The advent of wi-fi zones does present a number of political issues and the potential for the over-arching monopolization of the supply of internet access is something that needs to be addressed. But just as we are currently embracing the freedom of using the internet wirelessly throughout our homes, soon, we will be enjoying all the benefits of online on the move. If the internet has made the world smaller than wi-fi is set to make our homes and offices a whole lot bigger.