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If you can't beat them, join them; mobile operators, whether they like it or not, will have to embrace public wireless LANs to avoid being outrun in the race for data traffic.(Public Network Revival)
- Article from:
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Telecommunications (International Edition)
- Article date:
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March 1, 2004
- Author:
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2004 Horizon House Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Mobile operators, no matter what they might say in public, will--deep down--probably wish the public wireless LAN hotspot phenomenon had never happened. This desire will be particularly earnest from those who have invested heavily in 3G licence fees and infrastructure.
This shouldn't be surprising. Without WiFi (the brand name for WLANs) 2.5G and 3G networks would have been the only 'high-speed' terrestrial WAN access option for locations outside the home and the office.
Now, however, the waters have been muddied. WiFi variants can offer theoretical data rates from 11Mbps (802.11b) up to a potential 54Mbps (802.11a and 802.11g). Fixed-line operators and ISPs can ...