What has been the most successful networking technology invented till date? Ask the users and you will get varied answers. But look at the statistics. The unanimous winner will surely be a single one – wifi. From just 4.2 million global hotspots in 2013, the
In addition to the increase in the number of wifi users, there is also likely to be quite a few unique trends that are expected to emerge during the next few years. Here’s a look at some of them.
BYOD will Rule the Roost in the Professional World
Year 2014: You are going to the office. You don’t need to carry any device. The office provides all the computers and laptops that are required by the employees.
Fast forward to 2015: Welcome the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend. You carry with you a tablet or a laptop. Or any other wifi-friendly mobile device.
The use of employee-owned devices with office wifi will increase at a fast pace within a short time. The IT departments in different organizations are already sanctioning the users the right to use their personal devices with office wifi. This is likely to increase at a significant rate in 2015, thus helping the professionals remain in touch with the clients 24X7.
Wifi Surfing Speed will Increase in Leaps and Bounds
Facing the problem of low speed while using wifi? Be assured, this problem is not going to stay forever and you will surely have a better surfing experience soon. The 802.11ac standard is expected to be deployed soon, which is expected to help wifi users experience gigabit networking speeds. As Liam Quinn, the CTO of Business Client Product Group of Dell said: “In the Wi-Fi space, we started at 11 megabits then moved to 54 with 802.11g. Now we’re at 100 megabits and we think that will increase with one gigabit per second or more as a possibility in the next five years.” This is likely to solve the problem of slow internet a great deal.
Public Wifi Deployment Expected to Increase Significantly
Ask any stranger using a wifi-friendly device what makes him happy while traveling. The answer is sure to be free public wifi. And to make the travelers even happier, the number of public wifi hotspots across the globe is expected to increase at a fast pace.
In the US itself, the number of public wifi hotspots are expected to increase by over 300 percent by the next five to six years. Around the world, there is likely to be around 5 million public hotspots by this time. Hence, no matter where you are, all you will need is a wifi-friendly mobile device. And with it, you can visit whichever website you wish, just by connecting to one of the numerous public wifi hotspots available.
[Chart Source: http://www.ipass.com/blog/wi-fi-helping-increase-in-data-traffic/]
In-car Wifi to Make the Office Mobile
Worried as you can’t access the internet on your way to office while in the car? This issue won’t persist, as by 2015 you can expect wifi to be deployed across a wide range of cars. This will also ensure that the internet is not limited to a single user. Instead, it can be used by a large number of passengers at the same time. Sitting in the car, you can connect your laptop, tablets, mobiles and other wifi-friendly devices.
It has been quite some time since the wifi technology has become popular among the internet users. The expected trends are likely to make it a household name within a short time. With a large number of wifi hotspots deployed across different places, accessing the internet is going to be no problem at all within a few years.
Images: ”bright picture of futuristic man with tablet pc./ Shutterstock.com“
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