Are We Headed Toward a Wireless Future?

Once upon a time, setting up a home or office network involved running cables - lots of them. If you had the skills (or the money to pay someone who did) you got up in the attic and dropped the cables through the walls. If you didn't, you ran them around the baseboards and over the doors. Sometimes it was a real challenge to get those cables where they needed to go. Then along came wi-fi, and all that changed.

Now setting up a home network is as simple as plugging a wireless access point into your Internet modem or router. In fact, many ISPs provide routers that already have wireless built in, so all you have to do is configure your computers to connect. Of course, that means each computer needs a wireless network interface card (NIC), but almost all laptops now come with one built in and you can buy USB versions for your desktop systems, so that you don't even have to open up the case to install them.

Back in those early days of networking, computers didn't typically come with Ethernet adapters. You had to buy the card, crack open the computer and install it in an empty expansion slot. Today an Ethernet adapter is built into the motherboard of most desktop systems. I expect that a few years from now, those RJ45 jacks on the back of consumer grade computers will disappear and most of them will come with built-in wireless adapters just as laptops do now. In the typical home, at least, network cables may very well become a thing of the past.

Of course, there are still some significant advantages to that old-fashioned wired connection. One of those is speed. Although wi-fi has gotten progressively faster, from the 11 Mbps of 802.11b to 54 Mbps for 802.11g and now 802.11n with a theoretical top speed of up to 600 Mbps, the practical throughput for wi-fi currently maxes out at a little over 100 Mbps - still far slower than gigabit Ethernet. The equipment for 1 Gbps Ethernet is now readily available and affordable (and 10 Gbps Ethernet is the new emerging standard). Another consideration when deciding between a wired and wireless network is security; it's easier to intercept wireless transmissions, which go over the airwaves. Read more about wireless security risks here:
Wireless LAN 101 - Risks of Wireless Networks

Nonetheless, we have seen the future and it appears to be increasingly wireless. And it's not just with local area networking that we're losing the wires. I am now using a wireless keyboard - something that I resisted for a very long time. I actually had this one thrust upon me; Tom bought it and didn't like it, and I hated to see it go to waste since it was a $100 keyboard, very compact and very nicely laid out (Microsoft Laser 6000). To my surprise, I have enjoyed the "untethered" nature of the wireless keyboard - although I still don't think it's as reliable as a USB or PS2 model. And it's really annoying when the batteries start to get low.

One of my favorite wireless gadgets is the presentation device that allows me to control a slideshow without being stuck at a podium with my laptop. It's great to be able to move around the room while I'm giving a talk or teaching a class and still be able to go to the next slide or animation with a simple click.

On the top of my wireless wish list is a way to do away with all those wires connecting the components behind my TV. There are the HDMI cables hooking the Blu-ray player, cable box and Media Center computer's video card to the television, the three coax cables going from the wall outlet to the set-top box and the two TV tuners in the computer, the digital sound cables from the DVD player and computer to the home theater receiver, the USB and firewire cables connecting the external hard drives to the computer, the speaker wires (five of them) connecting the home theater receiver to the speakers, the power cords for all those components, and probably a few more I'm forgetting. It's like a jungle of wires back there, and I don't look for that to change any time soon - although I'm heartened by the fact that you can now get wireless speakers for some new audio systems.

Wireless Internet is another up-and-coming technology. Wi-max is long range wireless that can deliver Internet connectivity in places (such as rural areas) where there is no CATV, DSL or fiber infrastructure. Satellite is another, older form of providing Internet connectivity without running wires from the provider's location to the user's location. Unfortunately, at this time none of the wireless Internet technologies can provide the same level of bandwidth as high speed cable or fiber optic, but they are fast enough to be classified as broadband.

Of course, the wireless technology that most of us use (or at least have with us) most often is that over which our cell phones transmit. There are some exciting new developments on that front. For quite some time, it's been possible to connect your laptop to the Internet by tethering it to your (data enabled) cell phone, or by buying a special card that would let it connect directly to your cell phone provider's 3G network. Verizon is making it even easier with their new MiFi wireless router that's small enough to fit into your pocket. You can read about it here:
Verizon MiFi: Best laptop 3G yet? | Nanotech - The Circuits Blog - CNET News

What else does the future hold for wireless? Here is an interesting take on that question, with some predictions you might not have even considered:
InformIT: The Future of Wireless Networking > The All-IP Network

Let us know what you think. Will we do away with the wires entirely in our lifetimes? Do you think wireless is now as trustworthy as wired connections, or do you still prefer the latter for reliability? Are you concerned about security over wireless connections? What's on your wireless wish list? Tell us what you think.