So much progress has been made in the past few years with cell phones. This is especially evident in mobile technology, where users have grown accustomed to using fast Internet for sending emails, checking their social networking websites like Facebook, the news, sending photos to one another, etc. But with all of the new iPhone and Blackberry converts from regular phones to such smartphones with Internet capabilities, will the tech side be able to keep up? Experts are worried that within the next five years, everyone will feel the effects of too many people on the mobile web.
Right now, a big part of why smartphones are so popular is that they are geared towards Internet use. If everyone uses a smartphone, then the broadband capabilities are overdrawn and each person gets a slower Internet connection on their phone. Smartphones will not be as necessary anymore. A big part of why people invest in them is to access their favorite sites quickly and easily-- something that is more of a task on any regular cell phone.
Thankfully, 4G and LTE are faster alternatives to the 3G network and could ease some of this traffic if more phone carriers decide to make the transition. But here another issue arises: only a select few cell phones currently have the capabilities of accessing the aforementioned networks. So first you purchase a fancy new BlackBerry or iPhone, in a year you realize that the service is slow because the 3G network is congested with so many users, so you are forced to buy another phone to use the 4G or LTE networks. It seems like a lot of trouble to go through, but it may end up being necessary at the current rate of new developments (not fast enough!).
It can also mean that some people will decide the costs outweigh the benefits, and to switch back to a simpler cell phone. Not everyone will deem purchasing a new expensive cell phone a necessity if there is no guaranteed fast service. In a way, the developments in mobile technologies will be eaten up by their own successes until something new and fast develops that is cost-effective for the average consumer. Because mobile broadband has been so wide and wildly popular, it is almost at the point of crashing (or at least becoming excessively slow).
Yes, we may very well be on the brink of an unsolvable technological problem, despite the fact that we are in the 21st century. The FCC's legitimate concerns will impact many people, obviously, since the fact that there are many is why mobile broadband will possibly be a lot slower in the near future. There will be things like the 4G network and it will work faster for a while, at least until everyone else catches on. Will we have the same problem again?
Perhaps this will be a good thing and people will become less dependent on their phones, and more dependent on real-life interactions. There are pluses to every drawback, and maybe the zenith of mobile technological advancements, at least in the (quite relevant) Internet aspect, will lead to unforeseen benefits.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/11/05/gahran.mobile.spectrum.crunch/index.html?hpt=Sbin
Thanks for a thought-provoking post of information! We often discuss how convenient phones are and even the risks of owning one but rarely do we look at the environments in which they operate and how users may or may not adjust behaviors as speeds get faster and data becomes more plentiful. It is an interesting point to ponder. How will the increasing amount of content affect speed and where is the threshold of speed when users say it isn't worth it? More importantly - as you note - solving this issue once doesn't mean it's permanently solved forever.
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