The Silver Bullet?

I attended a webinar earlier this year.  The emphasis was wireless data usage.  One of the main findings from the firm's research was that at lower speeds, users were more likely use their mobile device.  These features included communication, social network and cloud access.  Interestingly, even on more data intensive applications, the mobile usage was surprisingly high.

Why is that and what about WiFi?  There is definitely a place for WiFi as part of the broader cellular network; however, it likely will not be silver bullet that many are hoping for.

According to Mark Lowenstein, an industry analyst and managing director of Mobile Ecosystem, “Wi-Fi offloading is not really where the [wireless] operators want to be [the] wireless carriers' business models are completely geared toward encouraging users to buy larger and larger buckets of cellular data.  Thus, there's little reason for them to embrace Wi-Fi offloading since it generally gives users more data that they don't have to pay extra for.”

While there is potential in WiFi there seems to be a lot of issues that need to be addressed first.  Here is an excerpt from a recent FierceWirelessTech article titled, “Sprint, Google, Microsoft, Huawei, TWC and others tap into aggregated Wi-Fi but revenues remain lethargic” that does a good job outlining some of those challenges.

“First and foremost, of course, is the fact that a Wi-Fi network is not comparable to a cellular network. Wi-Fi coverage can be counted in yards, while cellular coverage can be counted in miles. And Wi-Fi works in unlicensed spectrum, which means that interference from other nearby users is a distinct possibility. Cellular networks, on the other hand, run in licensed spectrum, meaning that wireless carriers can take legal action against anyone interfering in their transmissions.”

“And every time a Wi-Fi user moves, they may have to deal with a completely new Wi-Fi network and login process, whereas cellular roaming is relatively seamless. (Though, to be clear, the Wi-Fi Alliance's Hotspot 2.0 technical specification, dubbed Passpoint, is intended to smooth the Wi-Fi roaming and login process.)” 

“Lowenstein said that the Wi-Fi market also suffers from a somewhat crude user experience. Some services--like Google's Project Fi, Republic Wireless and Cablevision's Freewheel--require users to purchase specialized handsets. And oftentimes users must negotiate ads and other obstacles, particularly when accessing free hotspots. And even if those issues are addressed, some Wi-Fi hotspots (usually free ones) are simply overloaded because they don't have the backhaul or RF design necessary to handle traffic from multiple users.”

"I think we're still very much in the experimental stage" in the Wi-Fi industry, Lowenstein said. "There's still a lot of work to be done to deliver an easy, seamless, best-connected experience."

In a recent article by Monica Allevan, an editor FierceWirelessTech, she wrote, “Verizon Wireless, which seems to be the last holdout among the big nationwide carriers, isn't revealing its cards when it comes to Wi-Fi calling, and while it has said it would support Wi-Fi calling at some point, COO David Small at a recent investor conference pointed out that the technology has not been perfected in terms of handoffs, and Verizon would rather position its own cellular network over Wi-Fi any day.”

My guess is the cellular network of the future will be a will consist of macro network upgrades, new outdoor sites, indoor and outdoor small cells, distributed antenna systems, (DAS), WiFi and microcells.  For those have potential needs now, it is best to be proactive, and look carefully at all of your available options.