Organisations worldwide have begun using wireless broadband in exciting and unexpected ways, proving it has uses beyond mere mobile web access. These include utility services for governments and remote monitoring and diagnosis of patients for hospitals. So, where are the Australian networks and what exactly can wireless technology do for us?
Australia is typically stationed well behind the leaders in the eternal broadband race and wireless broadband presents no exception. Taiwan, for example, has a WiMAX-based healthcare network that allows for remote monitoring of the condition of patients, provides personnel in the field access to medical records and acts as a virtual healthcare information centre.
Some governments and councils have more ambitious plans, such as the City of London, which has deployed a Wi-Fi mesh network that provides subscribers with broadband internet access throughout a square mile block in the core of London. Singapore has a similar network, Wireless@SG, a Wi-Fi mesh network that offers free 512Kbps access, with price plans for faster speeds.
We aren't completely lacking in large scale wireless deployments, however. Mt Buller Ski Resort in Victoria features a Wi-Fi mesh network that covers the entire 650 acre resort, allowing visitors to access the internet anywhere in the resort or as they zip down the slopes.
Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital is presently trialling a network similar to the one in Taiwan, but based on Wi-Fi, not WiMAX. The hospital has embedded Wi-Fi devices into expensive or important equipment. This means that in addition to supplying connectivity for personnel, the service will be able to remotely track tagged equipment, issuing alerts to staff if anything moves outside of its designated area.
Users in regional areas also stand to gain significantly from wireless deployments. These users traditionally have no access to wired broadband, due to the substantial cost and effort involved in rolling out so much infrastructure verses the meagre potential profit from so few users. Wireless broadband enables ISPs to knock up a broadcast tower and buzz out the signal, circumnavigating the costly process of wiring the entire country.
The Federal Government has recognised the benefits of this (a cynical eye might see a connection between broadband's applications for VoIP and the historical absence of adequate phone support in the bush), and is providing funding to ISPs that service these areas, affording end users access to wireless broadband for the price of equivalent wired broadband. Several ISPs have already made use of this scheme and are offering subsidised wireless broadband in rural areas, including Queensland ISPs Buzz Broadband and Allegro Networks.
The future has even more astounding developments in store for Sydneysiders, if the New South Wales Government's promises are anything to go by. The Government purports to blanket the Sydney CBD and other major areas with a free wireless signal, allowing anyone with a capable device to jump online at the Government's expense.
But will it really be at the Government's expense? IDC analyst Godwin Lee says that ultimately, no, it will not.
"The Government wants free provisions," says Lee, "and that could possibly be another tax payers' burden. Another proposal is to have an advertisement viewed by an end user before they can access the network. Either way, there must be a benefactor to cover costs."
Ovum's Nathan Burley describes the initiative as a 'votes winner', and is sceptical about the success of the advertising model. He does, however, point out that it would have positive benefits for services outside of consumer internet access, including, for example, the checking of utilities. Rather than sending out teams of workers to check water meters, someone at the local council could simply glance at a monitor and have the same information in a second.
Kevin McIsaac of IBRS agrees, adding that it also has applications for security (wireless security cameras), better emergency services infrastructure, and would make Sydney a more attractive place to do business or visit as a tourist, therefore generating revenue.
"We shouldn't get too excited too soon, as we won't be seeing this for quite some time," he adds.
The NSW Government isn't the only one aiming to shoot new and improved wireless ray-beams at us. ISP Unwired plans to migrate its existing wireless service to WiMAX, extending their coverage and bandwidth.
Not everyone is extolling the virtues of WiMAX from their nearest mountaintop, however, nor do they expect WiMAX-based offerings to fare so well versus existing fixed and mobile alternatives, particularly in city areas.
McIsaac believes that existing fixed broadband providers need not worry, since the recent advent of ADSL2 means that customers within service areas already have access to cheap high-speed broadband, and plans based on WiMAX simply cannot provide that kind of speed at those prices.
"The major Australian mobile networks (Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and 3) won't have anything to worry about either," says Burley. "The HSDPA mobile 3G technologies they utilise serve up speeds comparable to ADSL1, so consumers are unlikely to bother learning about a new tech when they feel that what they have is adequate for their needs."
McIsaac agrees, but points out that the mobile phone started out as an expensive alternative to the landline, and that eventually became commonplace. So too, he says, will technologies like WiMAX start out as an expensive extravagance but eventually become the norm.
So, while WiMAX may indeed face insurmountable competition in the cities with HSDPA already providing 'good enough' speed at 'good enough' prices, it will at least provide broadband to long-unloved rural users. Meanwhile, organisations will continue to deploy WiFi mesh and WiMAX-based networks to provide new capabilities to users and devices, and the Sydney wireless network will put a spin on things, should it ever come into being.
