The end of the Wireless dream?

[Tasha]

Wired ISN'T in a competition with Wireless. Both technologies fulfill different needs of the customer. Hardlines will probably always make up the trunklines of the internet. Businesses will always need the fastest more secure connection to the internet. This isn't a market where one will destroy the other. Both will continue to exist side by side in the marketplace for quite awhile to come.

 

As for MMORPGs, and Triple A games. I think we are going to see one time downloads of games continue. That kind of stuff won't be on the cellular networks. There ARE a number of Mobile MMO's that are MUCH smaller in size than a PC MMO that are under a GB in size that people play on Tablet or Smartphone. BTW Game streaming means something VERY different from Video Streaming. Game streaming takes games that are already installed on your Console or PC and allows devices on your local network to play those games. The Console or PC is actually doing the heavy lifting, and the local network even a wireless one has more than enough bandwith to screen share the game. So the model of downloading the game over wire to a PC  on Console game system is still the model.

 

Local wireless connections like WiFi are more than fast enough for everything you throw at it. 802.11ac is capable of nearly 500Mb+/sec that's faster than many home local wired networks. It's certainly faster than the majority of home Internet wired connections.

 

You seem to think it's a Sony Beta vs VHS or BluRay vs HDDVD thing. But it's more akin to Motorcycle vs Car or Car vs Light Truck. They do many of the same things, but they do enough different things that one is unlikely to ever drive the other out of the market. So, yeah we won't ever be completely wireless for networking. Heck, even now a majority of users have a wired connection coming into their house. Then have a router with both wired and Wireless connections. Local devices in the house probably using more wireless connections than wired ones.

[Anaximander]

This kind of reminds me of the "Death of Silicon" arguments that have been going on for since discovery of silicon processors.  Every time the doomsayers seem to be right, clever engineers prove them wrong by creating work around that prolong the life of silicon as a basis for how technology advances.  The same is true of von Nuemann information processing.  Engineers keep finding ways to keep those technologies alive. Perhaps, they can do that with wireless Internet communication, but for the sake of argument, let's say that they don't?  There has been a lot of progress in understanding quantum mechanics, and maybe, engineers can create a quantum mechanical solution to the bandwidth issue.  Within quantum mechanics, it is theoretically possible to teleport information across nearly infinite distances without the information having to travel through the intervening space.  Perhaps, they can figure out how to make that work.

[Zeropoint]

Don't forget that Li-Fi--wireless information transmission via modulated environmental light sources--is going to be coming soon, and will offer much higher data rates than WiFi, without the issue of polluting the airwaves for yards and yards around.

[ghost-angel]

An interesting look into Personal Internet (versus Businesses internet connections, which have more infrastructure in them);

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/04/19/one_in_five_us_homes_now_mobileonly/

 

Homes relying solely on wireless networks are on the rise, proving that for the end user, mobility is still the key aspect driving their choices.

[Old Man]

Don't forget that Li-Fi--wireless information transmission via modulated environmental light sources--is going to be coming soon, and will offer much higher data rates than WiFi, without the issue of polluting the airwaves for yards and yards around.

Ultrasonic as well.

[ghost-angel]

When you couple the information that PC sales are down (so far down that Intel will be downsizing by 12,000), tablet sales are up, and wireless homes are also up; the wireless dream most certainly isn't dead.