I laughed out loud at "wireline" internet becoming irrelevant in a few years. Even when I'm surfing the web on my phone, I'm doing it on wifi as often as on EVDO. Then there's the 10+ hours a day in front of a computer.
Cellular internet is a long way from offering the speed and convenience of broadband. And even then, the cost of landline internet is just so much lower that we'll see wi-fi continue to proliferate.
No, for two reasons. 1, What you're quoting is a theoretical maximum, actual rates are substantially lower. 2, The latency is brutal. Most of the net (especially as viewed from mobile devices) is very small files delivered frequently, which makes latency a much bigger factor in overall experience than speed. Ping times on even the strongest 3G connections are much higher than even an average wired broadband connection.
Also you only pay less for your wireless internet because the average consumer uses WAY less of it than wired. Per megabyte we're spending far more on those wireless data plans, and as soon as the rate of use grows I think we'll see them start becoming metered.
i disagree. the wimax in my area is actually pretty good. not great, mind you, but i could see the entire industry improving in a few years such that its equal to or better than land line based access.
Yeah? I can't wait to check it out, Sprint is supposed to have it in my area by the end of summer. Can you reasonably bittorrent on it?
I've read some stuff from people who say that wireless net is a long way from being able to sustain the sort of activity people use on desktops without serious improvements given the amount of spectrum it has available now. However I wouldn't be surprised if metering solves that problem.
yes, you can do most things reasonably well on it. its fine for the average user, but power users will find issues (you'll probably lose to lag if you're playing SC2). it depends a lot on the network strength. all things that are either technical, or issues dependent upon the specific company, not the technology.
Cellular internet is a long way from offering the speed and convenience of broadband. And even then, the cost of landline internet is just so much lower that we'll see wi-fi continue to proliferate.