Apple’s iPad and other 3G devices are feared to cause a choke in communications, a theory recently mentioned by Phil Bellaria, director of scenario planning for the Obama administration’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative. He mentioned the administration’s fears for a great demand in mobile broadband started by devices like the iPad and the possibility of them causing a network congestion.
As an example, Bellaria mentions networks outages that took place back in 1996, when AOL introduced unlimited Internet access. This resulted in fragile connections and lack of connectivity for some users for months. AOL took care of this through network upgrades, so this might also be the solution for the current problem: 3G and WiFi upgrades, done by the local operators.
Problems were also found in the UK, where WiFi hotspots and cellular networks are being criticized for their service by iPhone owners. Will LTE/4G/WiMAX bring the answer to all of this trouble?
[via electricpig.co.uk]
