Sony Ericsson: WiFi Is Dead Options

[Mizzle]

It has been reported that the head of marketing at Sony Ericsson (could this be John Bernard?) has said that "WiFi is dead" and that it'll soon be replaced by much faster mobile network communications. He also compared WiFi hot spots to the invention of the telephone box.

What do you guys think of this statement?

From the Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog:
http://blog.se-nse.net/2008/03/16/sony-eri...n-wifi-is-dead/.

[MikLSP]

Totally depends on the context of the comment, from that little snippet we know pretty much nothing about what he means.

WiFi is still very much in use at the moment but it will no doubt be replaced in the future

[Step666]

He's kind of right IMO.

Wi-fi in itself isn't really any more suitable for wide-area data communication than bluetooth. It doesn't have the range/area to ever be more than a secondary connection.
WiMAX looks to be a useful development though, if I've picked it up correctly, it's designed to basically fill in the gaps between wi-fi hotspots.

But, whilst that will certainly be a useful development, you can't help but think that in the long run, it will be something more akin to an extension/revision/enhancement of HSDPA that will win out.
Something that can provide high-speed blanket coverage over large areas is the real future - at that point we can kiss landlines goodbye.

[weirdwilli]

Well i only like WiFi because its free
So i dont think it will die

[MikLSP]

It's only free if it's a free access point, which is rare, or your own router but then you still have to pay for the internet connection to use through it.

The technology to replace it will simply be wireless internet without the need to have internet wired to your house and into a wireless router.
That way once you have a subscription with a service provider you should be able to use your own internet access anywhere in much the same way that we use mobiles now.

I suspect this is what wasbeing talked about in the interview but the abstract gives so little detail it is just like a revelation in a newspaper headline.

[Step666]

But, as Mik has touched upon, that's part of the problem - not all wi-fi networks are free.
Sure, the Starbucks, Dominos' and McDonalds of the world provide free wi-fi access but a large number of wi-fi hotspots are not.

In the UK, a lot of hotspots are owned by The Cloud.
To access these hotspots costs money - for example, on an O2 contract, you would have to pay £7.50/month for a wi-fi browsing bolt-on (a bolt-on which, as it happens, is included free in the iPhone contracts). On other networks, I believe that any Cloud access is charged as per standard data rates but I'm not sure.


Of course, money is the bane of all data connections. A lot of networks have poor-to-downright crappy data bundles or, alternatively, pretty decent ones but you pay a fair amount for them (T-Mobile springs to mind).
Until that is addressed, it doesn't matter which technology is superior, it'll be crippled by the companies running it.

[Mattwood]

if your a BT internet user you can sign up to BTfon, this allows you to use other BT users wifi (if they are a member) you can get a reasonable amount of wi-fi coverage in housing estates.

The Cloud is the largest option for this but not the only option.

[Cortez]

If my mobile provider gives unlimited data transfer over HSDPA then Wi-Fi is dead to me to

[Karun]

I dunno about you all....but Wifi surely isn't dead in developing countries like India....there are very few wifi hotspots..mostly restricted to restaurants,coffee shops etc..they are free though.....but the nos are still not enough to cater to the demand, so a lot of growth is happening.....I guess in the future, wifi in itself may not be enough, but coupled with Wimax or some other new technology it should be good enough...




This post has been edited by kurt_karun: 2008-03-18 10:51

[MikLSP]

I think the main use of WiFi is home networks allowing people to use their own internet anywhere in the home.
Commercial WiFi has been crippled by subscriptions as mentioned earlier

[Karun]

yeah....thats true.....working at home without wires is a big plus...