There several distinct advantages of going Wi-Fi. These benefits are not only for businessmen but even the normal home PC user and students can take advantage and benefit from them. Some of the obvious merits of Wi-Fi are given below.
Speed. Data acquisition and transfer over Wi-Fi networks is several times quicker than the traditional wired, broadband/ DSL/ Cable networks. The increase in speed is not arithmetic but exponential, meaning Wi-Fi networks are several hundred times quicker than dial up networks. The greatest advantage of Wi-Fi is perhaps its mobility, you can work on this network on the run and there wont by any conflict. You can work on it on the road, in the train, at home, at work, wherever. You can even take it to the bathroom and connect. We are used to connecting to the internet and waiting for pages to download but with Wi-Fi this wait is over, you just have to type the address and lo your page is in front of you. The increase in individual productivity is immense.
Ease of operation. The connectivity of Wi-Fi has to be experienced to be believed. The moment you take the device close to a hot-spot or base station, immediately you are connected to its network. No wires, no commands, no syntaxes, no typing, no clicking on the mouse, but just pure connectivity. You can take your handheld computer anywhere inside the hotspot and it will not get disconnected. Be it your cabin or the board room or even the meeting room. Your connection is not cut. In case you are not in your home network, you could go to any Wi-Fi hotspot in any part of the world and connect to their Wi-Fi network, hotels, convention centers, client office etc. It is that simple.
Omnipresence. Governments across the globe are increasing their investment on public Wi-Fi hotspots. For instance in India the entire Pune city is Wi-Fi enabled and one can log on to the network from any corner of the town, same is the case of Singapore. Bookstores, airport lounges, eateries, coffee shops, ice cream parlours etc are all becoming Wi-Fi hotspots. In America several private entrepreneurs have come forward to invest and make the entire cities Wi-Fi hotspots. Some examples could be Cinciannati, Athens, Portland etc.
Some Wi-Fi networks offer connectivity at a price, most offer this free. The aim is to have a technology-friendly surrounding so that customers are impressed and stay longer. This has a distinct benefit to the entrepreneur in case of restaurants and coffee shops, the clients will stay longer and spend more on books, coffee, food etc.
But in a rush to get into the technology race analysts have not been able to workout whether this is a sustainable profit model. They think it is too nascent to judge. Experts expect that the number of Wi-Fi users will rise and they will spawn a new income stream for these network. According to a US-based market research organization the expected growth of Wi-Fi sites is around 57 percent annually over the next half a decade. But there is a veiled warning there though, these business models are new and untested and if hotspots don’t create profits they may just collapse.