How long before wi-fi makes all other mediums obsolete?

[Inspector Jihad]

with VoIP and soon to be taking off InternetTV, when can we expect to see mostly everything run on wi-fi. especially considering how relatively cheap it is to have citywide wifi. Its really interesting that cell phones have made landlines obsolete, and voip may do that to cellular service. what do you think?

I know video is best suited for other forms of broadband like cable or fios, but it seems like the internet can consolidate all these seperate mediums. Or maybe i'm just making up stuff, I dont know.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

voip is stalling out IMO.

and how would wi-fi "make other mediums obsolete"? It's a method of accessing the internet, but you still must have the connection.

 

[MX2]

I figure about 10-15 years. Landlines are still used heavily in commercial settings arent they?

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

there is no question that the future lies in IP-based technologies. Companies want to integrate phone, cable tv, and cable internet into one system and that is all possible with IP-based technology.

 

[aceO07]

If they can make wi-fi as secure and fast as using wires. Also not interfere with other electronics. for example, my laptop wireless will cause problems with my bluetooth..

I'm not sure if VOIP has solved the problem of figuring out user location so police/fire can respond to the right location. If if has solved it, it's probably not widely used yet. There's a huge infrastructure for landline in place, it will be a while before voip or anything else can do the same.

 

[Shawn]

just wait... in 20 years everyone will have brain cancer because of all these wireless transmissions passing through our heads.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

isn't security an issue...?

 

[Jeff7]

It may always lag behind in some respects. Wired media has almost always been faster than sending things over radio frequencies. We now have gigabit LAN (1000Mb) and 54Mb wireless in the consumer market. After gigabit LAN, maybe we'll see more fiber optic hookups, which could leave wireless even farther behind.
Then "wired" will be even more secure than wireless. Wires can theoretically be listened to externally by sensing their electromagnetic fields. Can't even do that with fiber optics.

 

[Ramma2]

Can Wi-Fi ever be as secure or as fast as fibre?

 

[mordantmonkey]

never. some connections can never be transmitted in a physically unsecure fashion.

 

[BooGiMaN]

Originally posted by: Shawn
just wait... in 20 years everyone will have brain cancer because of all these wireless transmissions passing through our heads.

i prefer to look at it as the glass half full

in 20 years everyone will have mutant tumors that transmit and recieve frequencies which will render speech useless since everyone will communicate with each other this way...as well as recieve tv programs and the internet directly to the brain....

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Ramma2
Can Wi-Fi ever be as secure or as fast as fibre?

never?

through a vacum > through air?

 

[nakedfrog]

I'll go with never.

 

[broon]

You can't have global wi-fi without physical connections. The fiber will never go away.

 

[Mellman]

never... sure it will be faster, and better...but it will never be as secure. The government is entirely too skiddish (and rightfully so) to do any secure wireless transmissions in its facilities.

 

[randay]

Never. First of all, it would have to surpass speeds of regular mediums, which is probably impossible. And second of all, it will never be secure enough.

 

[MX2]

I think one day we will figure out how to secure wireless entirely

 

[broon]

You will always have fiber. Wireless can't keep up. Companies currently use 10gb/s circuits to transport their data across the country. I'd like to see wireless keep up with that.

 

[Kaido]

I'll go with "never" for 500, Alex. My house phone, microwave, and wifi can't even peacefully coexist now; add in my cell phone, Bluetooth headset, RF wireless keyboard and mouse, IR remote controls, not to mention the upcoming Wireless USB standard, plus radios, walkie talkies, satellite dishes...I think it's getting a bit crowded

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: broon
You will always have fiber. Wireless can't keep up. Companies currently use 10gb/s circuits to transport their data across the country. I'd like to see wireless keep up with that.

Wireless will get tpretty fast. Unfortuantely due to the fact that the speed of light is muc hfaster than the speed of sound, radio will, in the future, depend on the capabilities of comrpession, as it will inevitably hit a wall.


The main issue with wireless transmission is rhe issue of security. With radio, you are basically broadcasting out and anyone within a certain distance can intercept data and run a dictioanry attack against the encryption etc. With physical lines, they physically have to tap into it.

BTW, tapping into fiber is almost impossible. It's been done...in a lab


Sure security will increase and the like, but as Kaido hinted to, the airwaves are gettign bombarded with gagilliosn of impromtu "standard" that are creating a mess. If wireless will ever serve as a backbone, for the short time it looks like microwave and the like will be the mediums, but in the future, if wimax takes hold, the quality of the airwaves needs to be kept in good health.

 

[SSP]

Its also a lot less efficient then using wires.

 

[lokiju]

I remember reading an article about how SETI will be obsolete one day because as we progress we use less and less radio broadcast and more direct type transmissions such as satellite, fiber, cable etc and that it's a theory as to why we haven't found anything from an advanced planet/life form yet since it's making the assumption that the more advanced we become the else radio radiation a planet will emit, but then I think about Wi-fi and think about how much radio transmissions that in itself produces and makes me think otherwise.

 

[swtethan]

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN

Originally posted by: Shawn
just wait... in 20 years everyone will have brain cancer because of all these wireless transmissions passing through our heads.

i prefer to look at it as the glass half full

in 20 years everyone will have mutant tumors that transmit and recieve frequencies which will render speech useless since everyone will communicate with each other this way...as well as recieve tv programs and the internet directly to the brain....

will porn be the only thing on the net by then? omg its already happened!

 

[randay]

Originally posted by: MX2times
I think one day we will figure out how to secure wireless entirely

I don't think so, as long as its being broadcasted and can be picked up by someone else, it will always be unsecure. Plain and simple it'll never be secure because wireless is, well, wireless.

 

[spidey07]

Most likely never.

fiber/copper still rule this arena.