Comments on: Wi-Fi’s annoying little secret: Not all Wi-Fi is created equal

By: tom

tom — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:38:13 +0000

i think it should be in some cities – but only for basics like mail and maps so tourists can find their way around with google maps/navigation far more easily. maybe use an app to call a cab to their current gps location or something.

that way they’re more inclined to wander around more, enjoy their visit more and possibly spend more. no fear of getting lost with a smartphone – unless you use apple maps i suppose

By: John

John — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 20:13:13 +0000

So, to summarize: Wi-Fi can often suck, and you just have to deal with it. Thanks for the update, brah

By: Vittorio Alfieri

Vittorio Alfieri — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 03:51:58 +0000

Many times in public networks the problem is the access-gateway or the captive portal to which the access-point connects.

By: hitzero2003

hitzero2003 — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 23:46:17 +0000

will it be the same for the new standard?

By: Tsahi Levent-Levi

Tsahi Levent-Levi — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:38:29 +0000

Stacey,
Whoever is going to provide the bulk part of the Wi-Fi experience of the users is going to win the data game of mobility. Even now, I end up using a lot more Wi-Fi than cellular data – when I didn’t have cellular data over the weekend I ate half of my 500Gb plan…

Here are the contenders to that game of Wi-Fi as far as I can tell: http://blogs.amdocs.com/voices/2012/08/14/who-will-win-the-wifi-olympics/

By: Tsahi Levent-Levi

Tsahi Levent-Levi — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:35:34 +0000

Sure – less users are on LTE than on Wi-Fi in airports at the moment.

By: Industrial Digital

Industrial Digital — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 01:36:23 +0000

I do wifi system designs for campgrounds and trailer parks. Owners of these venues have the exact same problems and concerns…heavy-users. They are also, to an owner, adamant about controlling their monthly costs. Fee-for-service solutions are not acceptable to them. Low energy use is demanded.

Given the typical limited bandwidth that these facilities have, and the no-monthly-fee constraint of the owners, I set about on a search for a standalone solution. I found a small in-line processor by Guest-Internet that solves most of these problems.

The G-I device simply plugs in between the Internet modem and the system of APs you want to control. It applies quality-of-service rules to all connected users and makes sure your system runs ‘fair and square’. If Ron Popiel was selling wifi controllers, this is the one he would sell because you “just set it and forget it”.

Venue users went from hearing many complaints about wifi service to hearing virtually none because the controller solved all of the problems they were having. Happy customers means happy managers. Did I mention no monthly fees…?

I generally recommend the GIS R-4 unit (US$227) as it handles 100 concurrent users, about 5 APs worth of users (figuring 20 per AP). This probably covers 85% of applications that I see in the field.

I have no connection at all to Guest-Internet (other than as a satisfied consultant), but I thought it would be helpful for those owners who are struggling with this issue, and are looking for a cost-effective way to resolve their problems.

By: John Pettitt

John Pettitt — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 00:27:35 +0000

Another issue not mentioned is “buffer bloat” – specifically the memory buffers in most wifi devices and particularly in routers are too big. This means that the congestion control built into tcp/ip doesn’t work properly and leads to failure modes where the system works well until a saturation point where it collapses badly. Combine that with under provisioned backhaul and you get the experience seen in Las Vegas hotels during CES.

I’ve also seen under provisioning of IP space – this shows up in conference venues where you can’t even connect to the wifi because it won’t allocate you an IP from the too small DHCP pool (the Hyatt in SF had this issue at the recent ONA conference). Using a /24 with long DHCP leases on a public access point is a bad idea.

By: Brian Converse

Brian Converse — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 23:27:29 +0000

On dual band APs ours will automatically “push” dual mode clients to the higher 5ghz band so there are fewer on the crowded 2.4 band.

By: Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 22:46:32 +0000

I find that LTE works better in airports than Wi-Fi does.