Wi-Fi dream turns sour

“Of course, the airport departure lounge is not the only location where mobile wireless systems would be useful,” wrote my esteemed colleague, Martin Banks, five years back.

In a startlingly prescient piece, Martin predicted there would be accusations of overworking as people found themselves expected to be “on tap” for the office even when in bars and pubs. He also predicted extra productivity, but what he couldn’t have foreseen was just how darned long it would take before Wi-Fi was available in enough places, at the right price.

Martin wrote: “Pessimists warn this could lead to a world where we all work even longer hours under more scrutiny, but optimists say it will lead to a world where we can work more flexibly and productively, at times and places that suit us best.”

I have experienced more rage, frustration and plain broken IT in wireless hotspots than in any other part of my daily encounters with computers — and that includes trying to set up Windows for Workgroups. Looking back, and trying to re-imagine the futurescape as I expected it at the time, it’s really hard to think what caused the current clumsy mess of security-enabled private access, profiteering incompetence by carriers, and spectrum fog, which means that these days, when I fly, I buy a book for the airport, and don’t pull my notebook out.

And I suspect the sad truth is I simply failed to anticipate the problems of open Wi-Fi access. I honestly didn’t think that people would cause problems if they used the nearest hotspot to pick up email. I never anticipated the “corporate bot army” that can be infiltrated through one executive’s laptop, if compromised at home.

And above all, I never dreamed that compatibility was going to be an issue. Why would I have foreseen that? The Wi-Fi Alliance was there to ensure that all wireless systems could unplug and play together. And it was, obviously, in everybody’s interest to make that dream work.

So I rather think that the Wi-Fi dream will remain a Wi-Fi nightmare for another year or two. If I’m wrong, I certainly can’t think of a reason why.