Are You Addicted to WWOW?

posted by Heath Buckmaster on May 16, 2007

WWOW is all many of my geek peers can talk about. It’s something they do on the weekends, evenings, and even when they travel. Most recently, one of them even told me he was WWOW’ing in the airport while waiting for a flight (ok, I admit, it was me). It’s becoming an addiction that is taking over society as we know it, and I think you know what I’m talking about.

I’m referring to the Wonderful World of Wireless. Wi-Fi is everywhere! I’ve got three wireless networks in my house, several of my neighbors are broadcasting their SSID’s around (some haven’t quite figured out security yet), every coffee shop I go to now offers free wireless access for customers (or people who live close enough to get the signal), and that’s only the beginning.

Hotels, restaurants (which I just don’t understand), airports, and even auto repair shops are offering their customers wireless connectivity these days. You can haul out your laptop, your wireless PDA or mobile device, and stay connected to your instant messaging friends, social networking sites, or your corporate email. What’s better than analyzing spreadsheets or approving expense reports while sitting in an auto repair shop lobby drinking instant coffee? It’s addicting! I can chat with four or five people and make a few online purchases in the time it takes for an oil service for my car.

I can be connected everywhere! Well, almost everywhere. There are two things that irritate me about wireless access and cause me addictive stress.

First, wi-fi is not everywhere. I can get a mobile phone signal almost anywhere, even when driving through the mountains of northern California. There are very few places that cause my phone reception to drop to “emergency only”. As for wi-fi…I can’t be flying down the road at 65mph and checking my email (as a passenger). Wireless just isn’t there for me. My little wi-fi detector can’t find any signal worth connecting to as I travel through the tree-lined wilderness of radio silence. But once I get close to civilization again, every coffee shop I pass sends its signal my way, beconing me to purchase a soy chai and see if anyone has posted a comment to my latest blog entry.

Second, it’s not free all the time. Sometimes it’s free, like at the coffee shop down the street from my house, or when the neighbor doesn’t protect their network with security (in many countries it is illegal to “steal” internet like that). But unfortunately, in many locations like airports and hotels, there is a surcharge to use the network. I’ve seen prices as low as $6.99 / day, or as high as $25 / day. I could purchase a DSL line for an entire month for $25. Is the markup for wireless access in public places really that much? I’m already paying for a night in a hotel or a flight through an airport…shouldn’t it be an incentive for travelers if they know they can also have convenient internet access? I know that I am very picky when selecting hotels and have only stayed in those that offer complimentary internet access. I know I’m not alone in making that type of consumer decision.

Another thing that bothers me, but I don’t count it as a third thing because it’s more an overall question, is just how many people are actually using wireless environments at any given time. Let’s ignore mobile phones for a moment and talk about laptops, pda’s and mobile devices that are connecting to internet resources, and by that I mean the device has an IP address and is using internet protocols to get to web sites, ftp sites, or other remote system connections. I know that at the airport there are hundreds of people doing this at the same time. Not only do I have the visual confirmation from the multitude of open laptops surrounding me as I sip on my hot tea, but I also have the frustration confirmation that it is taking forever for my laptop to obtain an IP address, and I have forgotten that my mobile device has been searching for over fifteen minutes for a signal.

If this wireless thing is supposed to be convenient, then I should not have to wait five minutes just to register on the network, and then another five minutes to load a web page. Are there really that many people trying to get online at 11:49pm before they get on the red-eye flight across the country? And why am I one of those people desperately trying to send an email that won’t be seen for another eight hours? If I were to pay for wireless instead of getting it for free, would that guarantee me an IP address within seconds of connecting? Who knows?

There are many groups out there that advocate free wireless access for all. Many city council’s around the globe have approved wi-fi and wi-max technologies in their towns, and every so often we read in the news about a city that has “gone wireless”. The technology is improving and scaling for larger numbers of users, and the reach is expanding across cities and towns. Pretty soon, I should be able to pull over on the side of Highway 50, walk down to the beautifully clear flowing American River, pull out my wi-fi enabled device, snap a picture of the waterfall in front of me and email it to my parents to let them know I’m on vacation.

Now, I don’t encourage anyone to take work with them on vacation - so be sure you’re not using your mobile device to check your corporate email…but pictures are just fine :-).

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tagged: Wi-Fi, WiMAX, wireless, WWOW