Inside out, Muni Wi-Fi
Monday, April 3rd, 2006
Dan Jones at Unstrung reports that some muni-wireless, at least in Tempe, Arizona’s city-wide Wi-Fi mesh, doesn’t work very well indoors. This is highly amusing — and ironic, of course — indoor Wi-Fi adapted for the outdoor market trying to get back inside. If the concept of 3G and Muni Wi-Fi going head to head in the metro has been foggy in the past, it should be clearer now. To improve coverage and grab more territory:
- Wi-Fi is moving outdoors. Though the WiMAX hype machine has been going full tilt, today’s Muni offerings from BelAir, Tropos, and others are Wi-Fi access points with mesh routing software, packaged in outdoor weather-proof enclosures.
- 3G is moving indoors. Motorola in the U.S. and smaller companies like ip-access in the UK have created tiny base stations for enterprise and home markets.
Though Wi-Fi is positioned as wireless as a 60s movement where the Internet is free, and 3G is seen as the purvue of big carriers, I expect both technologies approaches to continue to thrive.
Like any technology conflict situation, no single technology ever delivers a perfect solution. Smart product designers will subsume them all and make money doing it.
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