MuniWireless

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has forced Apple to cancel an ad which it found misleading. According to the ASA, the ad boasted that the iPhone was “really fast” and showed Internet pages loading in under a second. People complained that this was very far from the truth. In its defense, Apple says that the claims were relative not absolute.

The controversy over download and upload speeds on the iPhone and similar devices that rely on cellular networks to carry heavy data traffic will only increase in the coming months as more people buy these devices.

All that data traffic through those tiny cellular pipes

Indeed, an article appeared in RCR Wireless called The Open Data Pipe Bogeyman which predicts that once mobile devices have full access to the Web, file sharing and other high bandwidth activities will have a devastating effect on cellular networks. Yet the industry is addicted to “unlimited” data offerings because they increase ARPU and lure new customers:

“An interesting byproduct of the iPhone and other open platform handsets is that they “encourage” unlimited data plans. The result is that the handset is transformed into an Internet access device. Essentially, MultiMedia Intelligence sees this as a disruptive business model to the status quo. We see the rise of a new class of mobile devices that are application-centric with voice functionality. These devices are first Internet browsers, music players, text messengers, and e-mail devices, with the bonus of being able to still make voice calls. Hence the introduction of the “unlimited” plans from providers like Sprint Nextel’s “Simply Everything Plan.” At the epicenter of these packages are the once ancillary features/functions outside of talk, although unlimited talk is included.”

“As more devices on the cellular network become Internet access devices, one question needs asking: what do we do with peer-to-peer file sharing? Our friends in the broadband space are struggling with it, and they have REALLY fat pipes.”

So is AT&T’s strategy to get more people to use Wi-Fi? Recently, the company began offering iPhone users free Wi-Fi access at Starbucks. It also acquired Wi-Fi hotspot operator, Wayport.

The looming data traffic disaster is good news for WiMAX operators whose main selling point is “fatter” pipes for all your applications and more customer-friendly subscriptions (no long term plans, punitive cancellation conditions). Now all we have to do is wait for our favorite devices to come with WiMAX chips and of course, for the operators to offer true mobile WiMAX service. Right now, most operators require you to drag around a WiMAX modem, although Xohm in Baltimore and Worldmax in Amsterdam allow you to use only a USB dongle. Check out our map of mobile WiMAX service around the world (we are still adding locations).

QUESTION: do you agree that cellular networks will have serious problems fulfilling customers’ data traffic demands?

Related news:

Taking a deeper look at the Clearwire deal — again

3G netbooks, iPhone modems and Wayport: WiMAX has more to worry about than LTE

Mobile Internet: What’s WiMAX’s role?

Related posts:

1. Apple abandons iPhone exclusivity in Europe
2. Apple iPhone gets FCC approval
3. Why we need Wi-Fi everywhere: Apple iPhone