The Wi-Fi Icon – a dot with radio
waves radiating outward – glows on nearly every internet – connected device,
from the iPhone to thermostats to TVs. But it’s starting to fade from the
limelight. With every major US wireless carrier now offering unlimited data
plans, consumers don’t need to log on to a Wi-Fi Network to avoid costly overage
changes anymore.
That’s a critical change that
threatens to render Wi-Fi obsolete. And with new competitive technologies crowding
in, the future looks even dimmer. In an all data you can eat world, consumer’s
use of Wi-Fi at public places like stadiums and airports will drop to a third
of all mobile data traffic from about half. This means businesses not upgrading
public access Wi-Fi as often. Smartphone users might not even turn on their
Wi-Fi capability.
Customers are rational. When
pricing incentives favor Wi-Fi customers use more Wi-Fi. When pricing
incentives shift, so does behavior. The erosion of Wi-Fi influence is likely to
be slow and uneven. While unlimited data plans make the technology less
necessary for phones, many home devices, from a MacBook to Amazon Echo, still
use Wi-Fi to connect to Internet. Wi-Fi also helps fill in gaps in some office
buildings and homes that have spotty cellphone coverage.
Some wireless carriers also still
rely on Wi-Fi Networks to handle a large portion of the growing volume of
internet traffic. Putting all of that Netflix binging and Spotify listening on
cellular networks could strain capacity. Unlimited plans aren’t the only
threat. Wi-Fi has survived 20 years and spurred a roughly $20 Billion industry
of gear, service providers and chipmakers – mainly because it’s technology is
open to innovation and it operates freely in the nation’s unlicensed airwaves.
Wi-Fi now faces competition from other technologies that also run in those same
frequencies such as LTE and CBRS (Citizen Broadband Radio Service).
