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Wireless Un-Hype and the Urban Wi-Fi Crash

Sorry, but you won't find anything substantive. Instead, the analyst
vents about interference he experienced in his Boston-based apartment.
All in all, the technical and political analyses are iffy at best.

First, the analyst makes the outrageous suggestion that even if you
are within six feet of your AP (access point), another AP within 300
feet of you can "ruin your surfing or work at home." That's not
likely, unless your wireless gear has some significant bugs. In fact,
802.11 wireless networks are remarkably tolerant of the phenomenon
known as co-channel interference. That doesn't mean there aren't
scenarios where the system will die. For example, many reports have
surfaced in recent years about wireless meltdowns at technology
tradeshows, where hundreds of vendors try to deploy wireless APs in a
convention center without any effort to coordinate channel
assignments. As anyone who has visited a tradeshow will tell you,
that's not the real world.

Originally ran in our October 29, 2003 Mobile Observer Newsletter. For mor information or to subscribe, see www.nwc.com/mobile.

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