Can Wi-Fi Take Us the Last Mile?
I’m certainly a huge fan of WiFi, but something makes me nervous when the WiFi cheerleaders start saying that it’s going to replace the Bells’ broadband offerings with a pure WiFi/fixed wireless ISP solution. It certainly sounds nice, but until the technology gets much better, WiFi really isn’t designed for that purpose – and in the same way that people found very cool new uses for WiFi when it came into their homes and offices (and Starbucks), they’re going to find very annoying problems with trying to use WiFi as their “last mile” solution. I know that it can be done, and it absolutely can work for some – but for most people the technology just isn’t ready yet.
