On TeleGeography Explains the Internet, we often focus on the long-haul, zeroing in on the network portion of telecoms. Today, with the help of Tiago Rodrigues, President and CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), we’re switching things up a bit.
Drawing upon his vast expertise in Wi-Fi, Tiago steps into the hot seat to outline the key issues in wireless LAN.
This episode considers Wi-Fi 6, 6E, and 7 developments, OpenRoaming™ that allows seamless connection across different Wi-Fi networks, and Wi-Fi’s role in emerging solutions like NaaS.
We also discuss the digital divide and how to best use the limited resource of spectrum to ensure connectivity in our increasingly digital world. Hit the play button below to listen in.
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Key Takeaways
Rapid Evolution and Expanded Spectrum
There's been a rapid evolution in Wi-Fi standards over the last four years, with the introduction of Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E, and Wi-Fi 7.
A major development with is the availability of the 6 GHz spectrum band. This new band provides significantly more capacity, described as a "brand new highway with no cars at all" compared to the previously used bands. This expansion is crucial for improving performance in dense environments like airports, stadiums, shopping malls, or university campuses, and helps prevent Wi-Fi from becoming a bottleneck for high-capacity fiber networks.
Digital Transformation Drives Demand
The increasing digitalization of society and enterprises is a significant force driving the demand for broadband connectivity, including Wi-Fi. This includes changes in the way enterprises work (AI, robotics, manufacturing), the evolution of the workforce following the pandemic (remote work), education, entertainment, and online shopping. These trends require not just connectivity, but "good connectivity" or "powerful connectivity," leading to a huge demand on both the wide area network (WAN) and local area network (LAN) sides.
Connectivity Challenges through Innovation
Initiatives and technologies are emerging to address connectivity challenges. Open roaming is highlighted as a solution to the problem of easily and securely onboarding devices onto different Wi-Fi networks. It functions like a global federation where devices with a trusted ID can automatically connect securely to any participating network, improving the experience for consumers and enterprises alike.
The discussion also touched on the importance of tackling the digital divide, where Wi-Fi's low cost and widespread availability can play a role, and how solutions like open roaming can help those with limited IT skills connect seamlessly. Further, the need for spectrum sharing mechanisms is emphasized to make better use of the limited spectrum resource without interfering with existing services, ensuring that different technologies can coexist.
Greg Bryan
Greg is Senior Manager, Enterprise Research at TeleGeography. He's spent the last decade and a half at TeleGeography developing many of our pricing products and reports about enterprise networks. He is a frequent speaker at conferences about corporate wide area networks and enterprise telecom services. He also hosts our podcast, TeleGeography Explains the Internet.
