Will WiFi Replace Cable and Fiber Networks?

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Mimosa WiFi In a recent blog post, we mentioned that the next generation of WiFi technology will be able to transmit over 7 Gbps (gigabytes per second), and that by 2018, worldwide WiFi traffic will overtake wired traffic for the first time ever.

So while we are using WiFi networks more and more, you probably have noticed that some of these networks are unreliable and many are downright slow at times when compared to cable and fiber broadband networks.

A network company called Mimosa, co-founded by Brian Hinman and Jaime Fink in 2012, is looking to change the perception of WiFi as something slow and unreliable to something as fast, or even faster, than the cable and fiber kind.

The Future Looks Bright…for WiFi

Hinman and Fink’s plan is to bring high-speed WiFi networks to underdeveloped parts of the U.S. as well as developing countries that don’t have the money or the infrastructure needed to support cable and fiber networks, which can be incredibly costly to set up.

Right now, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have to invest a lot of money when they set up cable or fiber networks; it costs a lot of money to hire people to lay down cable and fiber networks and physically connect the end users to this network. The reason ISPs have done this is because traditionally, wired networks tend to deliver faster download speeds and have greater reliability. Because of this, ISPs have ignored underserved communities because it’s simply too costly to set up a network.

If and when ISPs figure out that they can use technology like Mimosa’s to give high speed Internet to customers while driving down the cost of creating and managing these networks, ISPs just might move away from cable and fiber networks for good.

How They Make WiFi Faster

Mimosa took its name from MIMO (Multiple Inputs Multiple Outputs), which is a technology that creates multiple networks streams (instead of a single one) for WiFi connections. MIMO was able to create two streams on a single spectrum, and Mimosa have found a way to increase that to four.

That means that Mimosa has found a way to make WiFi connections much faster than they are now. How fast? Faster than a gigabit per second, which is several times faster than most WiFi networks now. Mimosa expects in-home products to be ready by this fall.

Right now, WiFi networks deliver 50% of the global Internet traffic. Hinman and Fink think that WiFi should be going after the other 50%. If they can show that their WiFi networks are as fast as cable and fiber networks, they just might be able to do that.

Fast WiFi is Still Unsafe WiFi

While this a remarkable time for WiFi network growth, it’s good to keep in mind that WiFi networks are only as safe as their passwords, and the availability of public WiFi only increases the chances that someone might steal your personal information.

Do the right thing and keep yourself safe by using a VPN like PRIVATE WiFi whenever you log onto public WiFi. While the technology to bring you faster and faster WiFi quickly evolves, make sure your security evolves along with it.

Get Private Wifi   Protect your personal information.
Get DataCompress   Cut your mobile data usage.

Jared Howe

Jared Howe is PRIVATE WiFi’s Senior Manager, Product Marketing Communications. Working in high tech for over 15 years, Jared currently lives in Seattle with his wife, daughter, and their two cats.

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