Reliance Brings Back Mass MiFi Concept With 4G Backbone. Affordable High Speed Internet For Everyone?

The dream of bathing cities with wireless internet waves could soon become a reality, if Reliance’s plans fructify. Reliance industries is supposedly launching city-wide Mass MiFi devices by mid-2013, that will allow existing devices to access high-speed internet without being tethered to a localized WiFi hotspot.

Along with launching 4G LTE services, the company appears to be gearing up to deploy MiFi hotspots which would have a much wider network coverage than any WiFi router in existence today & will allow today’s average smartphone, tablet, laptop users with WiFi Chip to surf anywhere in the city. The work of laying fiber-optic cable networks has already begun in full swing & the first cities to enjoy this privilege are going to be Delhi & Mumbai. Additionally, the company has already signed agreements with hardware vendors Ericsson and Samsung for building networks, tech giant Microsoft will provide security solutions and IBM will offer seamless IT integration.

What’s MiFi?

The concept is pretty old & relies on Wireless Communication technology commonly found in domestic or industrial WiFi hubs which allow multiple devices to access internet simultaneously. Adding encryption like WPA ensures the interface is secure. The only drawback with today’s WiFi devices is the range of the hub or router. Even 300 Mbps Routers do not go beyond a 100 – 150 meters. Heavy duty MiFi devices which Reliance will deploy will have a much large coverage range & can effectively bathe an entire city with Wireless Connectivity cloud.

Interestingly, present-day devices won’t have to upgrade their hardware to benefit from this. The 4^th Generation internet technology (4G) is merely a backend pathway. The primary interface will be done via existing WiFi hardware commonly found in today’s majority of portable devices.

As if the good news doesn’t end, under the revised ‘Unified License’ regime, telecom companies are going to be allowed to deploy not just internet but Voice too on the ultra high speed 4G LTE network. Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology is relatively new, but will offer immense benefits as compared to decades old GSM.

Image Courtesy |  yourmoneysite

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