Wi-Fi

The Wi-Fi phenomenon is taking the world by storm. Wireless hotspots seem to be popping up everywherefrom coffee shops to bookstores to fast-food joints. Some enterprising cities such as Philadelphia have taken things a step further by deciding to blanket their entire city in Wi-Fi accessfor free! Other cities are bringing broadband Internet access to their entire populations: Grand Haven, Michigan, is completely covered in wireless goodness, as are Athens, Georgia, and Baltimore. Even Taipei has announced plans to cover the entire city in a wireless cloud.

Once Wi-Fi is everywhere, the road will be paved for other Wi-Fi-dependent devices. Currently in development are VoIP-enabled Wi-Fi cell phones. These phones will enable you to not only bypass the traditional phone company, but also bypass your wireless carrier for the much cheaper VoIP rates. Streaming radio receivers could be built into cars to allow Internet radio anytime, anywhere. Sirius Radio, are you listening?

Learn more about Wi-Fi at:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/wireless-network.htm