Comments on: Wi-Fi hotspots are hot again

By: Magnus Melander

Magnus Melander — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:37:39 +0000

It’s great with a new wave after some ten years! And one interesting piece is iPhone 3.0 auto login which I believe explains some of AT&Ts exceptional growth in Q3 re number of connects. And with auto login, users don’t have to look for a hotspot any longer; if there is one they will use it without knowing. And all of a sudden hotspots “without seating” will be more valuable and I bet my right arm that outdoor locations in down town areas will get a lot of connections onwards. We have started to see this happen in our network already.

By: Wi-Fi hotspots are hot again | MuniWireless « César Ortega :: el Blog

Wi-Fi hotspots are hot again | MuniWireless « César Ortega :: el Blog — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:54:47 +0000

[...] Noviembre 13, 2009 Wi-Fi hotspots are hot again | MuniWireless [...]

By: Brian Converse

Brian Converse — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:28:11 +0000

We are actually in North Little Rock mostly but we are currently expanding into more of the Little Rock side of downtown due to a contract with the Trolley service to mount to their poles. This will increase our footprint by about 60% and will more than double our user counts as that side of the river is very much more busy.

By: Esme Vos

Esme Vos — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:42:00 +0000

Brian,

Are you based in Little Rock, Arkansas? I assume most of your Wi-Fi hotspots are in the city?

By: Brian Converse

Brian Converse — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:37:27 +0000

I can tell you that traffic on our wifi network is growing by leaps and bounds. What was a network record (users and bandwidth) last month, is this months averages.

Smartphones last month were 45% of all our traffic.

By: Marshall Brown

Marshall Brown — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:31:07 +0000

Dear Esme,

The carriers are getting whipsawed by the explosion of mobile data traffic. AT+T’s cell network is being burdened by all those iPhones they are selling. That was a key motivator for buying Wayport.

Skype on an iTouch — WiFi enabled calls — strikes at voice, the carrier’s core business, but Wi-Fi telephony can never replace cell service. Wi-Fi telephony is not mobile voice, but nomadic voice — a Hot Spot to Hot Spot proposition. You can’t be in a car or even walking any distance making calls this way.

In the end, Wi-Fi enabled calls will eat into the carriers profits far less than having to constantly shore up their cell networks to handle data traffic from this flood of smartphones. Mobile data traffic is expected to grow 129% CAGR through 2015. In the face of this, mobile voice, which Wi-Fi can’t support, needs to remain serviceable.