https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...s-catch-on
I know some here have been so sure (and so wrong) about cable not going away and cord-cutting wouldn't continue, and broadband saving cable etc... But the trends, data, and technology shows otherwise. Cable and broadband going the ways of landline phones and print newspapers.
A World Without Wi-Fi Looks Possible as Unlimited Plans Catch On
by Olga Kharif
March 9, 2017, 5:00 AM EST
Unlimited mobile data plans, competing systems pose threats
‘You could see a big switch’ in consumer behavior: analyst
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 U.S. wireless carrier now offering unlimited data plans, consumers don’t need to log on to a Wi-Fi network to avoid costly overage charges 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.
“You could see a big switch,” said Tim Farrar, founder of Telecom Media Finance Associates Inc.
In an all-data-you-can-eat world, consumers’ use of Wi-Fi at public places like stadiums and airports will drop to a third of all mobile data traffic from about half, Farrar estimates. This means businesses not upgrading public access Wi-Fi as often. Smartphone users might not even turn on their Wi-Fi capability, according to Barry Gilbert, an analyst at researcher Strategy Analytics in Boston.
“At Sprint Corp., where unlimited plans are the norm, customers aren’t waiting until they get to a Wi-Fi hot spot to watch the latest video. They are staying on cellular,” said Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson LLC. “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’s 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 an Amazon Echo, still use Wi-Fi to connect to the internet. Wi-Fi also helps fill in gaps in some office buildings and homes that have spotty cellphone coverage.
QuickTake
The Streaming Revolution. "The market is going to decide which technology provides the best capabilities for the end user.
A new system called LTE in Unlicensed Spectrum -- or LTE-U, which depends on a combination of new small-cell towers and home wireless routers -- risks congesting the spectrum upon which Wi-Fi relies. In decades past, the nation’s unlicensed airwaves were mostly known for their use by garage door openers, cordless phones, and the occasional baby monitor. Now they’re full of traffic from Wi-Fi networks that connect smartphones, laptops, set-top boxes, game consoles, and a whole host of smart devices to the internet. As LTE-U moves in, Wi-Fi may get drowned out.
“Places where operators have traditionally looked to Wi-Fi, they’ll leverage LTE-U,” said Kyung Mun, an analyst at researcher Mobile Experts.
Developed by cellular carriers and their vendors, LTE-U may act as a disincentive for companies experimenting with Wi-Fi calling, including Comcast, and those dabbling in fiber networks, like Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
And please save the notion that wireless data won't be able to have the capacity to keep up. Broadcast TV is selling spectrum to the cellular companies so they can increase wireless and the wireless companies are hard at work building out to make wi-fi and broadband land cables obsolete (even google fiber). Even the old TV broadcast towers are developing ATSC 3.0 technology to broadcast straight to devices and make it interactive and 2-way communication.
Computers, memory, data always become cheaper and faster.