WiFi and radio

[8Balla]

Now I know that we are a little ways from becoming wi-fi in radio , but can someone tell me when we will all be accessible through wi fi streaming for radio? I mean it is the next step in car radios in the future. But what if we all tore down the transmitters and went 100% wi fi for all of radio in the future? I mean we already have wi-fi on demand. Just a question for engineers.

 

[mikl73]

Wifi as it exists has many problems that prevent this from happening.

It doesn't like moving at high speeds.
Has limited coverage and available bandwidth. There just isn't enough for everyone that would need to use it.

 

[radiosaur]

I think you'll see high speed cellular data access to online stations before WiFi. I believe the 2010 models of a number ot vehicles are already be slated to come equipped with broadband cellular capable "radios". Either way it's going to open up a huge number of new sources.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

As consumers we are spoiled by the subscription rate for Internet usage. We have been getting "all you can eat for one price. Folk Lore tells us from time to time about certain ISPs yanking a few people's cord who are downloading too many movies or other intensive use that takes up more than average bandwidth.

I am waiting for someone knowledgeable to write and explanation of what it would do to Internet traffic if in adition to everything we are currently doing, suddenly 40% of the population wanted to stream audio six hours a day. Would it choke the current infrastructure? What would my vendor do to my rates if in addition to whatever I am doing now, suddenly I loaded continuous audio streaming 6 to 12 hours a day, and my wife did the same thing.

If you want out of town radio in your car, I can see wi fi being of interest. To use it to hear a local station is a bit like this scenario"

I am sitting in church and it is time for the sermon. I have arranged for someone to listen to the broadcast, transcribe it to text, send the text to a reader in another room, who turns the script into audio, which is transmitted to me by WiFi. OR...... I take the earbuds out of my ears and just listen to the pastor. Sometimes simple works.

 

[radiosaur]

Good points, all. AT&T offers an unlimited mobile internet plan. I think it’s about 60 bucks or so, but I don’t know if there are any catches. Since the cellular carriers will have to handle this bandwidth, I would hope they are talking with the streaming device makers in the automotive industry. I said it would be available, not that it would be free. Over the air radio still has that going for it…for now. Even now, there is a lot of video and other streaming going on, and the cell system is keeping up with it all.

I have a sideline wireless data project going so I'ver had to teach myself cellular and mobile wireless networking recently, and as I understand it, the main internet backbones have plenty of capacity and are building more. It’s the local ISP that would choke on a large number of streaming requests. So, if the cell phone companies are thinking that way, you can bet they are building out capacity…but we’ll pay for it. Plus, there are new data protocols and methods appearing every day to make data transmission more efficient. All of it will come together eventually, but it's not time to turn the tramsmitter off...yet.

 

[gonzoid]

The Saur is correct, with a caveat. The backbone and the Internet in general must keep up the pace and it will cost quite a pretty penny. There is a study which predicts overall Internet capacity could be exceeded as early as 2010. While those backbones R-Saur speaks of are quite robust, it is the smaller tributaries, if you will, that are in danger of choking. If this should happen, the average Web junkie will not notice the difference on static Web pages except for load speed, but broadband and streaming service may feel the pain. That would include, I assume, broadband wireless unless those companies are astute enough to build their own closed system which I believe several of them do. The Internet is the future, young ones! One has to wonder, however, if the wireless companies have actually realistically pondered the effect of perhaps several thousand users in a metropolitan area all streaming audio.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I assume some of you lurking here have better info, but being based in the area where ATT Wireless is based, we have received a lot of news today about the first day of sales for the iPhone V.2 and one of the numbers that struck me buried in the news was this: The target market is people can and are willing to run up bandwidth charges of $66 to $200 per month. So to some extent, that confirms my suspicion that if you are planning to stream your favorite station on your cell phone or you automobile based stream receiver, you need to be a person who can swallow that size of Internet usage charge, or have a company phone where your employer is willing to eat the bill.

 

[chitchatjf]

The good thing about the Iphone is unlimited internet

 

[tomservo]

Of course this is all well and good for you city folk, but again us country bumpkins are gonna be left in the dust.

AT&T's 3G extends to what... Southaven to the south? Maybe Hernando on a good day? Well that leaves a good 70 miles down I-55 of "We call it EDGE but it really runs at GPRS speeds" internet quality from them.

Unless there's some major Wi-MAX breakthrough and the government mandates rural coverage first, I don't see myself ever having anything better than 128kbps or 256kbps internet access wirelessly from any carriers out in the boonies.

And FWIW, it is my understand the Chrysler Wi-Fi option merely converts your existing cellular broadband connection to an in-car Wi-Fi hotspot.

Why not cut the middleman out and just connect cellular data directly to your laptop, or better yet, your 3G media phone?

Heck, my SE w810i is only EDGE capable but it had streaming audio and video long before the iPhone was a gleam in Mr. Closed System's eye. Er, Mr. Jobs. If only AT&T weren't as equally closed-minded and would let me stream, I wouldn't give a hoot about any of this wi-fi garbage.

 

[gonzoid]

Ahh, all in good time, Mr. Zach. I admit my locale in the backwoods many dozens of miles east of the bustling city of Memphis isn’t the home of blazing over the air data rates, but it will be in time.

You should have seen the expression on the AT&T tech's face when he pulled up to my Grizzly Adams homesite to install a T1!

The key will come from new modes of data compression and creative increases in efficiency. There are in fact devices that will act as a network connection to your laptop directly to the cellular network. Since cellular data tends to be sent in bursts, a very robust buffering and error-correction system must be in place to get usable audio and video.

We are impatient. How long after the dawn of radio did we see stereo? The Web has only been in existence outside of DARPA for a couple of decades, and we are already demanding miracles!

If you build it, they will come. If they bring money, you will build it faster! AT&T is not in the least closed minded. Once they have the capacity they will let you stream until you run out of money. As for Mr. Jobs’ creation, I am convinced that it is not what you get with the I-phone, but what you THINK you are getting…and the W810 IS a nice piece of hardware.

 

[tomservo]

Ahh, all in good time, Mr. Zach. I admit my locale in the backwoods many dozens of miles east of the bustling city of Memphis isn’t the home of blazing over the air data rates, but it will be in time.

You should have seen the expression on the AT&T tech's face when he pulled up to my Grizzly Adams homesite to install a T1!

The key will come from new modes of data compression and creative increases in efficiency. There are in fact devices that will act as a network connection to your laptop directly to the cellular network. Since cellular data tends to be sent in bursts, a very robust buffering and error-correction system must be in place to get usable audio and video.

We are impatient. How long after the dawn of radio did we see stereo? The Web has only been in existence outside of DARPA for a couple of decades, and we are already demanding miracles!

If you build it, they will come. If they bring money, you will build it faster! AT&T is not in the least closed minded. Once they have the capacity they will let you stream until you run out of money. As for Mr. Jobs’ creation, I am convinced that it is not what you get with the I-phone, but what you THINK you are getting…and the W810 IS a nice piece of hardware.

gonzoid I agree with you that the march of technology will continue to improve, I just have my doubts about anyone deploying that technology to the most rural and poorest parts of the nation. I think current 3G could be a viable alternative to satellite broadband, which is about the only choice in very rural areas. It could be a nice alternative to DSL and cable in smaller towns like mine... But where did the cellular companies deploy the tech? Big cities where they can make money. And in the three or four years since it's been rolled out by Sprint, Verizon and AT&T, where has it expanded? Nowhere, really.

Even the EDGE (used on GSM networks) and whatever the standard data thing on other networks is called (1xRTT?) are adequate for casual browsing in rural areas as they are... And there is going to be little financial incentive for the cellular companies to upgrade to broadband speeds in small towns - especially ones off the interstate highways.

It's not a matter of when the technology is available, but where. I can't see Grenada, MS ever having any 3G service (but I hope I'm wrong)... I doubt even Sprint, who has been the most aggressive rolling out high speed networks, will ever cover Kermit, Texas or Thermopolis, Wyoming. And I'd be shocked if those technologies made it out to Somerville or Selmer within the next 10 years.