Goods and Bads about Wireless
Oct 08 '00 (Updated Oct 20 '00)
The Wireless Internet is currently the biggest hype on television and anywhere else. Some companies provide service with cell phones, pagers are getting it. Even palm pilots are now advertising it along with other features.
To me it sounded like a great product. To be able to sit on the couch and talk with friends or look up information, ride the bus or be in a car and being able work on some documents for work, or even reading a few e-mails while waiting in the airport for their planes, which are always delayed. It sounds like a great product, but is it?
Most people aren't truely aware of what they should expect from the service that wireless companies provide. If you are not fully aware of what you are buying, then expect to be unsatisfied. If you are expecting what everyone wants you to, then you will be some-what disappointed with what you recieve, that is from service to speed. Below are a few tid-bits of information that might help you in your choice of using the wireless internet:
a. It is CHANGING.
b. It is SLOW.
c. It is EXPENSIVE.
a. The Wireless internet is changing all of the time, making it hard to keep up with current products. Hardware and software are expensive and there will be more technologically advanced products available soon for the price you are currently paying. Many products that support the Wireless Internet can cost you $100-1000, which is a extremely lot to pay for a product. There are new Wireless technologies coming, many of them will be within the next year. These technologies will probably end up being 10-20 times faster then your speed and possibly even 1/2 of the price of your product, this is why many people aren't ready to join the growing population just yet.
b. The Wireless Internet is very slow currently. The fastest systems are about as fast as my 56k modem at home, similiar to what you'd get from any modem dial-up connection. The reason this is true is because there is a higher delay before your information is sent from your wireless internet connection or back to you. Another setback is most of the areas are over-used with low bandwith. Using my current wireless internet and my handheld palmpilot, I download about 5-6 kbs. Remember, this is about as fast as a dialup on an average day. If most websites now can be up to 100k just for a homepage, you may be looking at about 20-30 seconds everytime you load a website! However, for e-mails, the speed is considerably better, but when you start with graphics, you run into problems.
c. The wireless internet is currently on the expensive end too. There are a variety of plans that are offered with most services. Some plans let charge for every kilobyte you transfer, others give you unlimited plans. Most ISP's are reasonable prices, my ISP's package is currently $49.95 a month for unlimited bandwidth and time, which I find to be great.
I currently find the wireless internet a great way to stay connected no matter where I am. If you want to be connection or need to be able to access files from other places, this is a great technology that is available now. Soon it will be more widespread and cheaper, so for most people, a bit of waiting will do them just fine.
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