When I first got a wireless router at home back in 2003 no one I knew locally had a wireless network. Partly as no one had DSL (our exchange hadn’t been upgraded) and cable wasn’t available either. I had got an Airport Extreme (802.11g) from Apple which came with a built in 56K modem.
Once DSL became available then wireless became more prevalent. My neighbour had a wireless network, but I could only pick up his and mine.
In the last year however the number of wireless networks has grown considerably. There are at least seven now which I can pick up from my house.
If I drive around the local area I can pick up many more. I am currently using an Acer Windows Mobile PDA as a Satnav as it comes with GPS and this picks up countless wireless networks as I drive round the local area; so much so that I have to turn the wireless off.
Most of these are Sky and BT supplied wireless networks (you can tell from the SSID) so they seem to be selling well.
Why is wireless doing well?
The fact that most laptops are wireless, the PS3 is wireless, the Nintendo Wii is wireless, the PSP is wireless means it can make sense to have wireless internet.
As households move from having a single computer to multiple computers, then wireless makes it much easier to connect them to the internet.
Of course the main issue with multiple wireless networks is interference so be aware of which channels your neighbours are on.
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