Future of Wi-Fi
INLS187 - Future
Andre S. Burton
April 20, 2003

Introduction
The first fully intelligible telephone call occurred on March 6, 1876, when Bell, in one room, called to his assistant in another room. "Come here, Watson, I want you." Soon after, the coin operated pay telephone was patented by William Gray of Hartford in 1889. Eventually, the mobile telephone was invented by Bell Telephone Company and introduced into New York City police cars in 1924. Crudely underdeveloped, mobile phones didn't become a reality until some 60 years later when AT&T developed the cellular phone system.

Luckily, the time span for making the Internet more 'mobile' won't be quite as drastic. More and more movies are depicting the Internet as a superfluous, omnipotent, ubiquitous part of everyday life; as the Internet weaves itself into this lifestyle, companies are looking for ideas and innovations that will make money and put them ahead of the competition. With the telephone, AT&T seemingly developed a monopoly; in the developments of the wireless web, the playing field is wide open.

Wi-Fi versus Cellular Phone Connections
Currently, the wireless web is accessed either by a cellular phone connection or some Wi-Fi enabled technology. People with 'Internet-ready' phones with an ISP can access the web from any location. Since these Internet phones provide a layer of abstraction above a mode of communication already widely deployed and strongly supported, the need to strongly focus on the means of communication is less problematic. Wi-Fi, on the other hand, in one sense, has to start from scratch. Wi-Fi is currently underdeveloped and full of security holes; however, in an ideal scenario, it presents a set of solutions beyond what cellular phones may have to offer.

On UNC's campus, students are afforded the opportunity to engage in a Wi-Fi enabled network. Laptops with wireless cards can access this seemingly ubiquitous network. Hotspots are areas with Wi-Fi capabilities; the range or span of these areas are limited by the strength of the supporting hardware's signal. UNC's campus is not one big hotspot; in fact, there are several areas on campus where you can't get a signal; a signal will only be strong near a wireless router or signal booster.

UNC is only a microcosm of the hopeful or potential wireless customers at large. Unfortunately, UNC only provides service to employees and students of the University. It doesn't provide a set of rules or guidelines for the average non-affiliate. If the Wi-Fi is to truly become ubiquitous, the need to have multiple hotspots spanning multiple areas that users can go to without having to worry about being disconnected is apparent. However, as we have seen with organizations such as UNC, a signal may be available but users may not have rights or privileges to get access.

This is primarily one of the major reasons why Wi-Fi will not rival cellular phones for some time. Just like ground lines in the US, home phones dominated the market for a while until cellular become more supported.

Who's Ahead of the Game
Interestingly, despite recent research developments here in the US, "Korea leads the world in the number of high-speed wireless phone connections and interactive online computer game players. And it has by far the highest proportion of fixed-line broadband subscribers -- 10.7 million households, 70% of the total in a population of 48 million." [ihlwan]

Along with a large customer base comes an environment or testbed for many new and exciting products. A small company is testing a PDA capable of switching protocols (Wi-Fi to 3G).

Security and Wi-Fi
Many articles mention that someone with a small home/business network may not need to worry about the inherent security flaws in WEP. Interestingly, WEP's primary focus is to protect against easedropping, not to keep unauthorized users out of the network. [5] Although there are implicit ways to keep people out using WEP, it is not recommended for use as the sole method. Issac [5] points out types of attacks for unauthorized access and decrypting text that can be done using inexpensive, in some cases free, software.

Until Wi-Fi becomes industry grade, many businesses will tend to stay away from its full and complete integration. One might ask, well, what then makes it attractive? Simple - it's open, unregulated and free. No need to pay royalty fees. Multiple vendors/persons can write Wi-Fi applications for profit or personal use.

Its openness maintains some of the benefits of 'open source software'. A larger group of eyes is quicker to point out problems and potential areas of attacks, and in the process, solutions are posed and problems are fixed. Until these groups of eyes can effectively point out all the problems, other solutions will remain mainstream.

Resources

  1. Business Week Online. Half the World's Hot Spots. http://businessweek.com:/print/magazine/content/03_17/b3830610.htm?mz&sub=0317wifi
  2. Business Week Online. Commentary: Why Wi-Fi Won't Rival Cellular Anytime Soon. http://businessweek.com:/print/magazine/content/03_17/b3830612.htm?mz&sub=0317wifi
  3. 802.11b tutorial. http://www.homenethelp.com/802.11b/index.asp
  4. (In)Security of the WEP Algorithm. http://www.isaac.cs.berkeley.edu/isaac/wep-faq.html