[Cialug] Mobile Internet

[Matthew Nuzum]

On 6/4/08, Dave Weis <djweis at internetsolver.com> wrote:
> > I still think the future is wimax. Then again I also think that half
> > the people with computers won't need a PC in a few years because
> > everything they need a computer for will be done with something that
> > looks more like an iPhone than a PC. And who'd want to pay for DSL
> > service just for their iphone?
> >
>
>  I don't see whymax going very far. There's enough other problems such as
> coverage, interference, NIMBY types not allowing more towers, number of
> clients per access point, backhaul, etc. They might pull it off but I think
> it will be more because of how much the cellular industry has lowered
> people's expectations of anything wireless than whymax being a huge success.
>

I don't think wimax is better than dsl/etc. I just think that
stationary computers are going to become less common as more mobile
devices come into the market. Everyone on this mailing list has or
wants a device like an iphone that lets them look up maps, wikipedia,
games, or whatever.

Wimax has beaten LTE to the market by 2 years (so they say) and the
LTE people have started discussing ways to make LTE compatible with
wimax [1] so that there will be only one standard mobile data
connection format across the world. But if wimax doesn't win it
doesn't matter, something wireless will replace DSL.

In a few years we'll say, "remember when computers were so big that
you had to set them on a desk all the time? Even portable computers
were called 'laptops' because they were so big you had to set them on
your lap to use them! To get on the net you had to be at home or a
'hotspot!'"

Anything that requires you to plug a wire into it to use it will be a
transitory technology and limited to the ultra-geeky. Kind of like the
older cable TV remote boxes the size of a cigar box that had a long
wire from your TV to your couch and a dozen 3 position buttons.

IMHO. :-)

[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7425756.stm
-- 
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode