Wireless Internet History of Wireless

Wireless Internet

History of Wireless Internet

Even though the U.S. military is said to have started the use of wireless internet, it was Hedy Lamarr, a world-class beauty and a 1940s movie actress who was responsible for the origins of wireless Internet. Even though she did not have any technical training, Hedy Lamarr, being a gorgeous lady, was compelled by her husband to attend all his technical meetings held with the German military, which discussed a way to guide torpedoes by radio which could not be jammed. She wanted to join the National Inventors Council, which was set up to encourage Americans to contribute inventions for the coming war activity. It was during this time that the Council wanted actors and actresses to help sell War Bonds and she became a Hollywood actress to kiss any man who bought $50,000 in War Bonds. One day while she was playing four-hand piano with a musical hacker named George Antheil, she stopped and said "That's the answer to the torpedo problem: we are together, but apart. We are synchronized, but independent." (Thank You, Hedy Lamarr) She used the words 'frequency hopping' and they led to a patent U.S. Patent #2,292,387, called 'Secret Communications' wherein frequency hopping was done mechanically, by means of a piano roll tape having 88 holes to have control over both the radio on the sub and in the torpedo.

They gave this patent to the U.S. Navy without any benefit, and the Navy immediately classified it, and tried to work it out in the war. But it did not prove reliable enough. Hence in 1958, the Naval Contract Engineer Romuald Ireneus Scibor-Marchocki with the help of a computer chip did the frequency hopping between radios on land and a buoy which was successful. This led frequency hopping to become a major secure communications method in the Navy. Then all the other services jumped over board, and the U.S. Military prevented the FCC from allowing manufacturers to make it available to the civilians. The FCC was later pressurized to allow wireless internet for civilian use. Later by the year 1970, the first packet radio, ALOHAnet, was being used, under Norm Abramson, at the University of Hawaii on the basis of the concept of random packet transmission. This was the first use of wireless in the Internet. Almost 15 years earlier, the FCC first authorized the license-exempt usage of the ISM bands approximately and the initial vendors that had used the spread spectrum for license-exempt operations were Proxim, Cylink and Tetherless Access, Ltd. But the initial use of wireless Internet on a large scale was due to a package by Phil Karn called KA9Q NET which promoted TCP/IP access of the Internet by means of an amateur radio. (Thank You, Hedy Lamarr)

Current Use or Activity of Wireless Internet

Wireless Internet enables people to communicate, work, or play irrespective of the time and location. For the purpose of business, wireless internet enables that one can have access to the internet even while away from the office desktops via the use of laptops, PDA's, and cell phones. Also meetings which need the usage of the internet could be arranged possibly at any place in the office without any difficulties. (Get Wireless Business Internet Services for your office today!) Wireless Internet enables to keep connected to one's office even when one is held up on the bus or is away on a business trip and can also check one's email for urgent messages at any time and from anywhere. (the Benefits of Wireless Internet Access) Further clients internet access is made possible without the need to plug in to one's network and it also enables to improve upon the productivity of the employees. Also wireless internet increases the number of workstation that one's network supports and provides the capacity to print solutions from those places from where one cannot possible be able to have access. (Get Wireless Business Internet Services for your office today!) Further Wireless Internet access enables one to download information regarding business news, stock prices, and sports scores and driving directions in a timely manner. Having immediate accessibility to such information would be advantageous, if one is keeping a watch on sensitive information relating to financial or business data. The Benefits of Wireless Internet Access)

Wireless internet devices are lighter than a laptop. Even though a laptop is portable, it does not fit in a pocket like handheld devices such as a PDA. Handheld devices are advantageous for situations when one is in a conference, during a business dinner or in a car when one needs to have urgent, discreet and convenient web accessibility. Further wireless Internet accessibility means there are no phone lines, additional cords or external modems to plug around and hence less hassles. This is in contrast to laptop computers which require cables, wires and other external parts, which could become a headache while traveling. And a typical laptop battery would require recharging every 3-4 hours, whereas some PDA's can be used for weeks together on a single charge. We could also witness that even standard mobile phone batteries has a longer duration period when compared to laptops, which has up to 150 hours of standby time or even multiple hours of talk time. The Benefits of Wireless Internet Access) Hence in several ways Wireless Internet devices are advantageous to people.

Wireless Internet vs. current and future competition

Mobile phones have a unique opportunity in order to become the gateway for other Internet wireless equipments. But manufacturers need to respond faster and make its execution correctly, so that it may not lose its opportunities for making profits. Those competitors who can understand the significance of consumer equipments would prove to be successful. (Wireless Internet Devices from Phones to the Future) Leading companies dealing in consumer electronics are best positioned to create the next generation of wireless Internet equipments. It could be witnessed that only the largest consumer electronics firms such as Sony, Matsu*****a, Philips, etc. have a realistic chance of creating most of the Internet equipments of the future. Sony, for example, has the capability to knit important technologies together into a family of equipments which will prove to be significant. Sony, which has a large retail distribution, brand name, significant market share and partnerships, might prove to be successful in a strategy of designing varied, compatible equipments, when others might not prove to be a success. (Future Wireless Internet Devices will not mimic mobile Phones, According to New Shosteck Study on Wireless Internet Devices)

Traditional wireless companies need to understand that wireless is just one form of having access to the Internet. There are other forms of access networks and equipments which would continue to control value for end-users. Those equipments which can cross through several varied networks, varied Internet-based services, and several modes of use will be in a better position. (Future Wireless Internet Devices will not mimic mobile Phones, According to New Shosteck Study on Wireless Internet Devices) WAP and I-Mode would be compelled to have merger with Internet standards, while rendering them redundant. In spite of this, they would have a place in the market. Most of the added value of future Internet equipments would be provided by Internet companies. When network progresses equipments which make use of Internet standards will also improve. The current software platform war between Microsoft and Symbian would turn out to be insignificant. Both might fail to achieve market adoption on a wide scale. Wireless equipment firms which are aimed at corporate enterprises would prove to be niche solutions. And the winners in the long-term would be those firms which provide useful services to consumer markets, but those services cannot be determined precisely, compelling equipment producers to undertake risks for the shorter period. (Wireless Internet Devices from Phones to the Future)

Future Direction of Wireless Internet

Latest technologies and standards provide the foundation to build new devices, which are simple and are reliable in terms of connectivity. They also enable innovative wireless internet devices to provide users with the freedom and flexibility to have connectivity and interactions from any location and at any time. (the Wireless Landscape of Tomorrow) the future of wireless will be that of a mixture of technologies having heterogeneous wireless access. Even though there is less optimism regarding the prospects a decentralized, bottom-up network, it is still interesting to look upon what the roadblocks would be regarding the emergence of such a world. The wide-range of wireless technologies and/or business models which are potential gives us hope that we might be able to realize robust facilities-based competition for broadband local access services. There are also reasons for this. Firstly, the increased pace of innovation with each technology would intend that several generations of each technology would exist side by side in the network simultaneously at the same time. Along with the heterogeneity, there is also the on-going competition which exists among alternative wireless technologies. (Wireless Internet Access: 3G vs. WiFi)