The Cloud is planning to roll out blanket WiFi coverage in UK cities. It's an interesting idea in the short term at least, but:
- How is billing going to work for roaming users? Will there be a single payment point or will you have to set up new payment details for whichever ISP you happen to be connected to at that point?
- How much will it cost? WiFi access still isn't as cheap as it could be?
- What will happen to existing WiFi networks? Many are already causing interference with each other, so the addition of an ubiquitous network is undoubtedly going to cause problems for incumbents.
- What will happen in the mid-term, when WiMAX comes online? Will all these nodes be converted to WiMAX or can we expect an eternal WiFi network to fill up our radio spectrum in perpetuity?
- Are there the resources to cope with this? That's an awful lot of nodes draining an awful lot of power and using up an awful lot of bandwidth
- How will each node get Internet access? Wireless extension, wireless mesh or some other system? Or will every node have to be connected to a phone line? And will there will be enough IPv4 addresses available to cope?
Let's hope these issues aren't ignored or skirted over, otherwise there's going to be a great deal of effort being wasted.
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