I’ve heard a lot of discussions in the past few months about wireless versus wired. There are a couple of issues that come up.
- From an infrastructure perspective some folks seem to think we can leapfrog from wired service to wireless because it’s cheaper. Wireless is cheaper but it’s a last mile technology – at some point the wireless connection that connects to your phone goes wired to connect to the rest of the Internet. Wireless is a nice companion – but not a replacement.
- Another issue is the end user connection – the idea that wireless is for devices. Studies have shown that there are more mobile-only broadband users in lower income demographic segments. Think about trying to do research or complete a job application in your phone – or even your ipad for a view of why device-only access is not practical for many business-focused applications.
- Finally is the issue of data caps. Wireless providers charge by usage – at least on a tiered level.
Verizon has a new product that addresses at least one issue – Verizon HomeFusion Broadband. According to their marketing it provides connectivity for up to 20 Wi-Fi enabled devices and 4 wired devices at 4G LTE speeds. So the assumption seems to be that the connection will be used by computers as well as any handheld devices. But the data cap is still there – service starts at $60/month for 10GB; $90 for 20GB and $120 for 30GB. I found stats for average data use for T-mobile customers is 7GB/month (from Aug 2012), which is apparently higher than average. With five people in my family, that 30GB is looking at little tight. (Also I bump up against my 12GB plan on my MiFi most months.)
But it seems like it could be a great service for areas without access to wired services. I happened to look into this service while I was training in Grand Marais. I noted that while I qualify for the service in St Paul; the address where I was training in Grand Marais did not qualify, which is unfortunate. I had one student in the class on dialup and a couple others on satellite. I think they would love to take advantage of the HomeFusion if it were available to them.