802.11b (WiFi) over HomeRF? Of course …
I have long been an advocate of 802.11 and 802.11b … they are the handsdown obvious, IMHO, choice in wireless networking. I’ve been using them for years, and think that HomeRF is a very dead solution … it was only a matter of time. Here is more perspective on this subject …

Intersil’s director of strategic marketing pumps WiFi: hardly unbiased opinion, but he succinctly states the reasons for 802.11b’s current rapid penetration. The opposing view from the HomeRF group is also food for thought. But, even better: watch the two duke it out in public forums on the Network World Fusion site. The HomeRF rep: “Your article was riddled with false and misleading statements.” The Intersil director: “Let me point out that your article is typical of HomeRF; long on promises and assertions, but short on facts.”

[80211b News]

Home networking continues to grow …
So this is really cool to see … more and more home networks emerging on the scene … and I still believe that the wireless (802.11b) solutions are going to decline in price and dominate. It reminds me that this last weekend, when I stayed with my parents at their house in California, I turned on my laptop with my 802.11b adapter inserted … and got a carrier! It appears that one of their neighbors has an access point up and running with no security or encryption key settings … so I got bandwidth for free all weekend on my two laptops! Wild … wireless everywhere …

Home networking market nearly $300 million in revenue in 2000: increases due to a large upswing in home wireless sales primarily by Lucent (now Agere)’s Orinoco division and Proxim.

[80211b News]

Micro-cells and distributed wireless networks …
For quite some time I have wondered when the cellular providers were going to see competition coming from new places. There are a variety of connectivity providers who have extensive ‘wired’ networks, and if coupled with micro/nano/pico-cellular antennas they could create a very competitive wireless solution which could potentially exceed the digital data bandwidths that the current cellular solutions are promising. Imagine if BT were to install alternative wireless solutions, strictly for digital data, at each of their payphones …

BT payphones to become phone aerials. That’s what it says ‘ere [The Register]

I believe that this is only going to expand more as the various DSL and Cable modem service providers discover that they have a much better wired data distribution network than the current cell phone providers. In cases where they are the cell phone provider I think they might figure out that they are going to want to cannabalize their own markets … before someone else does!

P.S. I am working with a team at Novell which is specifically researching exactly this … I want high speed wireless Internet access everywhere for my wearable computers!