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Wi-Fi Technology Is Taking UP !
Jeonghee Yi, Ph.D., IBM Almaden Research Center
650 Harry Rd., San Jose, CA 95120
Do you like to work on your laptop computer with a cup of Cappuccino at Starbucks, but give up only because you can t on Google for necessary information? Have you ever been still working on your presentation slides on a plane to a business meeting, only to find out you left an important chart on your desktop computer? Or, do you have to wait until your husband or children stop surfing the Web to read your e-mail? Then, you might be excited about the latest deployment of Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) technology.
Wi-Fi is a radio signal that beams Internet connections out 300 feet. Attach it to a broadband modem (such as cable or DSL modem) and any nearby computers equipped with Wi-Fi receptors can log on to the Internet.
By early next year, more than 100 Boeing jets are scheduled to be equipped with Wi-Fi, and nearly 4000 planes over the next decade. Starbucks Corp. is to offer consumers Wi-Fi surfing at more than 2100 coffee shops for $40 a month. McDonalds has deployed Wi-Fi at 10 restaurants in New York and plans to add hundreds more by yearend, in order to attract new customers and boost sales. McDonald s is offering a free hour of Wi-Fi with each Extra Value Meal.
Wi-Fi networks known as hot spots, have emerged fast. Some 5000 free hot spots have popped up from street corners in Sydney to mountaintops outside Seattle. Corporations are investing in the technology as the potential productivity gains are so compelling. UPS invests $120 million in building wireless networks at its worldwide distribution centers, and says that enables 35% productivity gain for the company. Intel is spending $300 million to market its Wi-Fi-equipped Centrino chips. Cisco acquired Linksys, a Wi-Fi equipment maker, at $500 million. Cometa Networks, the new joint venture made up of Intel, IBM, and AT&T, is building a nationwide network of 20,000 hot spots over the next three years. And Microsoft is pushing its Windows XP operating system, which is specially adapted to handle Wi-Fi. If successful, Wi-Fi has the power to fit the Internet with wings.
The growing popularity drives the cost of building hot spots down. Installing an industrial-strength hot spot costs only $2000 now, one-fifth of the cost two years ago. Home gear prices are also in free-fall. A laptop antenna costs around $40. Wi-Fi is also getting a boost from the increasing popularity of broadband. That s because Wi-Fi is an inexpensive way to connect several household computers to a single high-speed Internet connection. Families in South Korea, the country with the highest ratio of homes equipped with the high-speed connection, for example, started adopting Wi-Fi based home networking.
Wireless networking, however, must overcome a slew of technological and economic hurdles to win its battle to join the mainstream. Standards are still unclear: there are multiple standards (802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g) competing each other. Security is spotty: in the past, Wi-Fi systems have allowed unauthorized users to sneak onto networks and steal bandwidth and even data from private computers. A subscription to commercial Wi-Fi network is still too pricey for mass adoption. The range, currently at 300 feet or less, is still limited. Lastly, hot spots are not inter-operable. No carrier is national, let alone global. For coverage on the road, a user would have to subscribe to several networks.
If you want to have a wireless network at your home, here is how it is done:
1. Get a high-speed net connection. You can subscribe to a cable-modem or DSL phone service for about $35 a month. 2. Buy a Wi-Fi Access Point ($100~$250). It includes an Internet router and a two-way Wi-Fi radio.
3. Connect Access Point to modem and desktop. Plug cables into the back of the modem and PC, and install the software on the PC.
4. Buy a wireless antenna for each laptop. The credit card size antenna costs $30 to $50.
5. Install the antenna first and then the Software on laptop.
Your network is now up and running. Test the signal strength by wandering around with the laptop. Most people experience weak signal because reception in their homes is hampered by walls and other obstructions. In this case, you can buy a signal booster (about $100), which attaches to the router. You can sometimes boost the strength of the router s signal online, with help from the manufacturer's service department.