Zahid, interesting article. However, it seems that consumer experience of WiFi is generally not good. Connectivity is erratic, speeds are slow and you generally end up sharing the limited throughput with people who seem to be downloading the latest Windows security patch.
EE has found that once customers discover LTE they rarely want to use WiFi out of choice. The far more efficient use of spectrum delivers better speed and you can change location without losing your connection. I suspect that WiFi will be consigned to connecting mobile devices in the home and augmenting the (actually more reliable) HomePlug network. Even there, LTE femto will eventually become the wireless medium of choice - the Netherlands is already considering unlicensed LTE spectrum.
Take a look at: http://www.telecoms.com/172082/ee-says-lte-users-are-spurning-wifi/
WiFi has been a brilliant servant for the last 20 years but is fast coming up for retirement.
Chris, one may argue that this is because the public WiFi network under discussion was not properly dimensioned. I see what EE says and maybe agree to an extent but there is a clear difference in the data caps generally on WiFi and LTE and this will always cause the users to use WiFi wherever they can.
I recently came across couple of other articles that speak contrary to what EE says:
Wi-Fi and Cellular: Who’s the Boss? - http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/wifi-and-cellular-whos-the-boss
Who’s your new mobile carrier? How ’bout Wi-Fi? - http://gigaom.com/2013/08/27/whos-your-new-mobile-carrier-how-bout-wi-fi/
Personally, I think that both WiFi and Small cells will co-exist as both of them will have their own use cases. Also, small cells will have a big part to play in M2M as I wrote in my article titled M2M, Cellular and Small Cells - http://blog.3g4g.co.uk/2013/08/m2m-cellular-and-small-cells.html
Zahid, interesting article. However, it seems that consumer experience of WiFi is generally not good. Connectivity is erratic, speeds are slow and you generally end up sharing the limited throughput with people who seem to be downloading the latest Windows security patch.
ReplyDeleteEE has found that once customers discover LTE they rarely want to use WiFi out of choice. The far more efficient use of spectrum delivers better speed and you can change location without losing your connection. I suspect that WiFi will be consigned to connecting mobile devices in the home and augmenting the (actually more reliable) HomePlug network. Even there, LTE femto will eventually become the wireless medium of choice - the Netherlands is already considering unlicensed LTE spectrum.
Take a look at: http://www.telecoms.com/172082/ee-says-lte-users-are-spurning-wifi/
WiFi has been a brilliant servant for the last 20 years but is fast coming up for retirement.
Chris, one may argue that this is because the public WiFi network under discussion was not properly dimensioned. I see what EE says and maybe agree to an extent but there is a clear difference in the data caps generally on WiFi and LTE and this will always cause the users to use WiFi wherever they can.
DeleteI recently came across couple of other articles that speak contrary to what EE says:
Wi-Fi and Cellular: Who’s the Boss? - http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/wifi-and-cellular-whos-the-boss
Who’s your new mobile carrier? How ’bout Wi-Fi? - http://gigaom.com/2013/08/27/whos-your-new-mobile-carrier-how-bout-wi-fi/
Personally, I think that both WiFi and Small cells will co-exist as both of them will have their own use cases. Also, small cells will have a big part to play in M2M as I wrote in my article titled M2M, Cellular and Small Cells - http://blog.3g4g.co.uk/2013/08/m2m-cellular-and-small-cells.html