Making Metropolitan Broadband Work

While personally, this does not surprise me, it is in marked contrast to much of the more subjective reporting one is likely to read in the press, where anecdotal evidence is cited on this new network or that, often relating consumer complaints of poor service from Wi Fi Mesh networks when compared to wired cable or DSL Internet service. The facts are that when Wi Fi Mesh is compared to mobile cellular data, its only comparable alternative, it fares well.

3G cellular based mobile data service is provided on networks that were designed first and foremost for low-bandwidth voice communication for massive numbers of consumers. They do not hold up well under either the high bandwidth demands of website downloads, much less video streaming, or the high use demands of massive numbers of consumers. Not yet - some day maybe, but not yet. Thus, we see the expensive data plans offered by cellular companies that have the effect of limiting the number of users a network may be called upon to support - mostly business travelers pony up for such service. If you are merely planning to use a 3G network to check emails while on the road, one of the primary uses for business travelers, a cellular data plan makes sense and is worth the price.

Once again, despite my approval of this particular test, I feel that when we compare 3G and Wi Fi Mesh, we engage in comparing apples to oranges - effectively, we try to make a "mobile data network" be a one-size-fits-all utility service. The fact is that Wi Fi Mesh networks are a decent relatively cheap alternative that provides better service over wider areas than Hot Spots or landline connections, adds a mobile access feature not found in either of those alternatives, and is available at a price point far more accessible to far more people than the relatively exclusive data plans of cell phone carriers.

In contrast, cell networks do provide a valuable, but different kind of service: a more-expensive by-the-drink priced service, over even wider areas, but with even less bandwidth. Some day, we will get to ubiquitous service over mobile cellular, but it is farther off than the carriers would have you believe, IMHO.

An interesting footnote is that those Wi Fi Mesh networks with added density of nodes perform the best. Better financed cellular networks have learned this reality of radio physics: many nodes fill in an area with coverage and eliminate dead spots. Less well financed pioneer Wi Fi Mesh systems risk suffering substandard performance reviews if their design of limited node coverage for economy sake results in sometimes spotty coverage.

Let's hope we see more stories like this one, that discuss these systems based on facts and their actual capacities and intended purposes and supporting business cases, and resist the facile comparisons offered up by general media outlets that try to make a complex story simple enough to grasp without any effort.