Moving By Esme Vos Yu

Moving Challenges for Workers and Cities

By ESME VOS YU

Universal Wi-Fi’s Benefits

Demand for public Wi-Fi continues to increase, as workers the world over increasingly rely on not just laptops but their iPads and smartphones to stay connected while on the go. With universal access, public streets become office hallways, cafe tables become desks, and the business world blends a bit more with the personal.

WI-FI FEVER

Municipal Wi-Fi fever hit its peak in the United States in 2007 when Philadelphia launched its citywide Wi-Fi network together with EarthLink, the ISP it hired to deploy and run the network. In the same year, San Francisco selected EarthLink to build out its network. Although many smaller US cities were busy rolling out Wi-Fi networks as well, the size and ambition of the EarthLink projects dwarfed anything anyone had ever envisioned and caused other large cities, notably Houston and Chicago, to issue their own public tenders for citywide Wi-Fi.

WI-FI’S BIGGEST SUPPORTERS

Who was most excited about the arrival of citywide Wi-Fi service in 2007? Not surprisingly, techies and business people who travel frequently -- in other words, a small group of people who carried around Wi-Fi enabled laptops and smartphones such as the Treo (originally developed by Handspring, later acquired by Palm) and the Nokia N95. People who resented the cable-telco duopoly that kept broadband prices high also supported municipal networks. Who opposed these networks? Telecom and cable incumbents who were afraid of competition.

WHERE IS PUBLIC WI-FI TODAY?

Today, municipal Wi-Fi in the United States is a shadow of its former self. One could argue that now is the time to restart large outdoor public Wi-Fi projects for 3 reasons: 1. Enormous demand from iPhone and iPad users, who are fed up with the poor quality and high cost of cellular data connections; 2. The immense popularity of iPads which are also used by government and private sector workers for their jobs. Most of these iPads are Wi-Fi only; and 3. Significant improvements in outdoor Wi-Fi equipment, which also cost less than the first generation of equipment used in the previous decade. These new Wi-Fi access points provide a better outdoor and indoor Wi-Fi experience for the user because they reduce interference and latency, increase throughput, and allow the network operator to optimize the network for many users.

Not surprisingly, outdoor Wi-Fi deployments are taking place in emerging countries, where municipalities and telecom operators have both the money and the need to meet the growing demand for broadband. In developed countries, free public Wi-Fi continues to grow as well but it is mostly indoor.

THE DEMAND IS GLOBAL

The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) published a report in November 2011 on the state of the global public Wi-Fi hotspot market. The report which includes a survey of 259 service providers and Wi-Fi vendors, reveals that global public Wi-Fi hotspot numbers are set to grow from 1.3 million in 2011 to 5.8 million by 2015, a great increase. The number does not include “community hotspots,” where users share their own Wi-Fi access point with others, which add an additional 4.5 million worldwide. Smartphone connections to Wi-Fi hotspots will soon overtake laptops. Laptops represent less than half (48%) of the connections to hotspots, smartphones account for 36% and tablets 10%. Another report, published by Mobidia Technology in February 2012, reveals that data usage on smartphones is much higher than has been reported. Mobidia claims that Wi-Fi data use exceeds cellular by a factor of two to one and that Wi-Fi accounts for 70 percent of smartphone traffic. In Mobidia’s survey of smartphone users, 91 percent says that they use Wi-Fi for data (not voice) and that Wi-Fi is their preferred method of connecting.

INTERESTING SOLUTIONS IN ASIA

At least one operator has admitted what all of us have known for a long time. Wang Jianzhou, CEO of China Mobile said last year that Wi-Fi should be the default data connection because tablets and smartphones are killing cellular networks. He added that cellular networks will never be able to keep up with mobile data demand and that Wi-Fi networks should be rolled out in all public areas. China Mobile plans to deploy one Wi-Fi million hotspots within the next six months, while Japan’s KDDI plans to grow its 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspots to 100,000 by the end of the year. Most of the growth in Wi-Fi networks will take place in wide-area outdoor hotzones (e.g. parks); local-area outdoor hotzones (e.g. popular tourist attractions); and transport hubs (e.g. airports and train stations). PCCW, the largest mobile operator in Hong Kong, has completed an ambitious commercial trial of its “Next Generation Hotspot” which offloads cellular data traffic to hundreds of PCCW Wi-Fi hotspots all over Hong Kong. Why is this significant? Because the Next Generation Hotspot specifications allow seamless authentication and roaming between 3G and Wi-Fi networks. Seamless roaming and offloading allow the operator to manage its network to improve the user experience and lower costs. Meanwhile, Chongqing Telecom is installing thousands of outdoor Wi-Fi access points in

Remembering traditional networks

Telephone Pole and Agave

Plant, San Francisco, California by the independent photographer Erik Grow. Erik's work concentrates on local landscapes; how they have evolved and what they mean to us. He can usually be found exploring the areas in-between civilization and wilderness.

the city of Chongqing (pop. 31 million, 31,800 square miles) to bring Wi-Fi access to the entire city.

HOPE FOR UNIVERSAL ACCESS

In Asia, one finds more outdoor Wi-Fi deployments because Asian cities, such as Chongqing, are partnering with telecom operators and service providers to create large scale outdoor Wi-Fi hotzones. Recently, the Thai government announced the launch of its “Smart Thailand” initiative which begins with the rollout of 40,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in Bangkok.

THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC WI-FI

Two trends are forcing local governments, telecom operators, and independent service providers to make investments in large scale public Wi-Fi networks: 1. Demand from users of iPhones, iPads and other smartphones for fast, affordable wireless broadband service; and 2. Machine-to-machine communications, smart grid applications (e.g. automated meter reading), traffic and parking control, wireless video surveillance and other government or enterprise applications.

AN IDEAL OUTCOME

The most favorable outcome would be for cities to cooperate with service providers and operators to roll out large scale outdoor and indoor Wi-Fi networks that are open to existing customers of local carriers and ISPs, and to visitors. I expect growing pressure from smartphone and tablet users to force cities, service providers and telecom operators to cooperate to find a solution to the data crunch.•