Issue TOC Print full article Print this page Download as PDF E-Mail this URL Discuss this article Flame the author     In this article Introduction Hotspot Players Executive Summary Hotspots and 3G: A Future Together? Just How Hot Are Hotspot Services? Dual Elements of Hotspot ROI E-Poll Results

Although Wi-Fi hotspots and 3G wireless are sometimes viewed as competitors, most service providers recognize that coexistence is the more likely scenario for the future. Some holdouts still exist, of course: Irwin Jacobs, CEO of cellular industry giant Qualcomm, predicts the demise of hotspots once 3G, with its promise of multimegabit data rates and coverage equivalent to cellular voice, becomes widely deployed. His logic is simple: Why have two wide-area wireless data services when you can have one that does it all?

Jacobs' prediction is unlikely to come true, though, because Wi-Fi systems are becoming so inexpensive and are garnering a groundswell of industry support, extending even to major cellular phone manufacturers, such as Nokia. These vendors view integration of the two technologies on a single device as a logical extension of the multimode phones we use now. Today, 2.5G (GPRS and CDMA 1x) and Wi-Fi integration means two chipsets. Tomorrow, it's reasonable to expect that chipsets will support multiple standards, including 11a, 11b, 11g, GSM/GPRS and CDMA, in various combinations.

The multimode radios of the future will facilitate new opportunities and present new challenges, including the development of interservice roaming standards so users can wander between networks transparently. The end result may be what some academics refer to as a "wireless grid," suitable for yet-to-be-developed forms of distributed communication and commerce.

Today we're dabbling in the grid's early stages, with hotspots as a key element. Despite many potential obstacles, we expect their role to become increasingly important to organizations during the next several years, with benefits reaped by individuals and organizations that learn how to tap the hotspots' inherent potential.