Wired or wireless?

Headlines have carried the wireless or "Wi-Fi" message to millions lately. Broadband, which normally requires wires to the Internet, also can be wireless. The media frequently writes about the salesman driving down the highway with his laptop open on the passenger seat as he picks up wireless frequencies.

This scenario has everyone excited about "going wireless". Wireless Internet or Wi-Fi access means one can stay connected to the Internet without having to be plugged in somewhere. Sounds ideal? It can be. However, wired broadband continues to be the best option for multifamily buildings, and here is why.

First, wireless does not necessarily mean faster. It simply means one is not tethered to a wire. Hence--the name. With visions of sipping a latte in a coffee shop surfing the Net dancing in everyone's head, the reality of an apartment community offering a wireless signal is important to address.

A wireless connection means a computer user is connecting to radio requencies that are being beamed from one source (a network access point) to another (a laptop or other computer). Wireless Internet, in order to connect, is simply the licensed or unlicensed use of a radio frequency.

Residents may have seen some network providers offering wireless Internet access and service and begun questioning property managers and leasing agents about their unit's connection. Offering wireless to an apartment community can be costly and difficult, however.

A Wi-Fi "hot spot," where a provider has made a particular zone available to users is a fairly reliable source of Internet connection However, this works well for small spaces and is not intended for large community-wide spaces. While the "hot spot" would work for a coffee shop, it is less likely to succeed in an apartment community.

By the end of this year, Datamonitor predicts there will be 31,580 hot spots around the world, with that number quadrupled to 1.53 million within the next three years.

To offer wireless Internet access in an apartment building so each individual apartment can have wireless service is much different from offering it in a coffee shop. To blanket an entire community, a provider would need to design a system that is very powerful or consists of many nodes in order to reach each apartment. In addition, each obstacle--such as a wall--decreases the signal's range for reception. Preparing an apartment community for wireless connections is possible, but it's usually more expensive and requires a lot more engineering than the traditional wired approach.

Some apartment communities have compromised. "Wireless is really expensive if you add individual drops," said Metzger, which has installed a wireless hot spot in the clubhouse of one property. "So, we've put it in one central location. Residents can buy a wireless card [from an electronics store] and then access the Internet wirelessly. We already have a business center [in the clubhouse] anyway."

Another reason for not offering wireless to individual apartments is the inability to offer uninterrupted connection. Uninterrupted connection is the key to a friendly Internet experience. No one likes to get booted off the Internet, especially when paying for the connection. In order to get an uninterrupted signal beamed through the apartment, the hardware has to blast the signal strong enough to overcome all the other radio frequencies in the area and other obstacles.

Wireless security has its own set of unique security issues in addition to those associated with wired broadband. Because the wireless signal travels freely the potential for someone to compromise its security is higher. Imagine hitting the print button and your document is spit out of your neighbor's printer; or, having a neighbor gain access to your Quicken financial files. These are the types of security issues that come with a wireless connection. The risk can be mitigated, but at a greater financial cost.

If a tenant really wants to go wireless, the best option would be for them to buy their own home access point--a wireless network device--from a local electronics store. The resident would then be ultimately responsible for their own hardware and security. Wired broadband, on the other hand, is simple for property managers to offer. Yes, tenants would need to "plug" in, but it's still the most appropriate option for multifamily dwellings to offer.

Jeff Cornejo and Baylor Fooks co-manage Blue Ridge InternetWorks.