Waves with Wireless Nerd · 13 Dec 2023
Q3 2023 WLAN rankings and 2024 Market Trends, Wi-Fi 7 Developments, will tinsel hurt your Wi-Fi, ACP updates and Pole Attachments!
Show notes
Ever wondered why your holiday wifi is acting up? Or perhaps, you're apprehensive about the rising wifi prices on your next Carnival cruise? Tune into our latest episode of Waves where we untangle the complex world of wireless technology. We're bringing you a comprehensive roundup of the wireless industry, from the latest IDC reports on WLAN market trends to the exciting new developments on Wi-Fi 7. We're also discussing Gigabyte's new Wi-Fi 7 PCIe card and its potential influence on the tech industry, and we delve into how major players like Cisco and HP Aruba are making waves in the market.
But that's not all, we're also tackling diverse topics that will have you thinking twice about your daily tech use. Imagine an AI that can predict passwords just from the way you type - it's not science fiction, it's happening now. We're also sharing some cool holiday wifi tips, and trust us, they're not what you'd expect. We're ending with predictions of our the future of Wi-Fi, the growing relevance of AI and ML in network management, and how augmented and virtual reality are seeping into our lives in ways we might not even notice. So, buckle up for a rollercoaster ride through the wireless industry, where the only constant is change.
Thanks to our sponsors: Helium & meter Networks!
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Full transcript
Machine transcript — lightly imperfect, fully searchable.
Wireless LAN Industry Update and Tech Development
Speaker 1 0:31 All right , let's try this again . I have been having some serious problems with internet services here at the house , so I apologize for any of that inconvenience real quick . I hate to pop on and then drop off and then come back , but I saw that something was going on there , so I don't mind starting all over again . We'll see if this thing sticks . Either way , welcome again to Waves . I'm Drew the wireless nerd , and today it is the week of today's December 13th , but it's the week of December 10th , 11th , 12th , 13th , all that stuff . This is Waves . Today , we're going to talk about what's new , what's now , what's next , what's happening in the wireless industry , what's happening in the tech industry , with a little bit of emphasis , obviously , on wireless . What I wanted to start off with and I apologize if you've heard this before , but what I wanted to apologize , let's try this again . What I wanted to start with was the WLAN market review that just came out from IDC Some interesting information , some key numbers to look at here .
Speaker 1 1:26 All that's showing a $2.5 billion revenue in the third quarter of 2023 for the wireless LAN industry , which is a 5.2% year over year decline from 2022 Q3 to 2023 Q3 . But that's not to say that in the middle there wasn't a lot of stuff . So if you look at the chart , there's all this activity that happened in the middle , popped up right around the 3.5 billion and then dipped down between Q4 and Q1 and then popped back up in Q2 and then down in Q3 . But overall it looks pretty healthy . It's sitting above $2 billion . So $2.5 billion is where it's sitting . Lots of activity going on in the wireless LAN industry . Key statistics here Cisco has a 3.5% increase in wireless LAN revenues , taking up 43.4% of the market . Hp Aruba comes in that second place with 12% of the market . So , according to IDC , there's about a 21 point difference between market share Cisco leading with 43% , hp coming in with 12 . And then after that you've got Huawei with 7.2% , ubiquiti with 6.4% , commscope with 5.1% and Juniper with 4.5% market share and the ones that I like to look at here .
Speaker 1 2:33 It's interesting to see Ubiquiti has just been kind of that player that's just kind of hung out there for a while and done what they do Lots of new products . I just got a tweet right now of a new product announcement that they have for a new switch that they've brought to market . So definitely stuff going on . You know , I still , you know , and I hate to say it , but it's . I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who has a lot of Ubiquiti and he says it's a throwaway brand . If it breaks you just throw it out and you get a new one and you plug it in and it works . And that's interesting . I've never . It just seems . It seems like that being that consumable for something that you're supposed to rely on every day is interesting , so interested to see what their , what their , you know , plans are . They've dumped a lot of money into marketing , as we've seen over the last couple of weeks , so let's see what they do . But overall looks good .
Speaker 1 3:18 The health of the industry looks pretty good coming into releases from Wi-Fi 7 , significant growth in the wireless line industry due to vendors addressing the backlog of product orders , and so , you know , is that affecting the downturn over the last couple of quarters , where it's been like the backlog of the equipment came out , everything was pushed , everything moved , and now it's like starting to , starting to baseline again where it is . So we'll see what happens there . Adoption of Wi-Fi 6E in the 6GIG spectrum is surging . Wi-fi 6E revenue surge by 13% between second and third quarters , consisting of or constituting 20.4% of dependent access point runeves and 9.6% of unit shipments . So 9.6% overall unit shipments of Wi-Fi 6E . So definitely some adoption that's going on there , which is pretty cool , especially , like I said , coming into Wi-Fi 7 . So you know , all of us in the industry know that this is the big news wasn't 6 to 6E , it was 6 gigahertz opening up . So now that that's out there , lots of really cool things are happening .
Speaker 1 4:17 Gigabyte , for example , just released their PCIe card . So those of you gamers with desktops who have PCIe slots , you now have access to a Wi-Fi 7 card the Gigabyte has made available . It's pretty awesome too . I'm staring at a picture of it right now . I don't know what all it's going to , what it's going to do , but it says wireless connections up to 5.8 gig , so offering up to 320 megahertz bandwidth support , 2.4 , 5gig and new 6GIG band . But it doesn't . I don't know if it's if it's going to support MLO . I mean it says MLO enables simultaneous connection to bands . It says one thing it says it offers 3200 , or , I'm sorry , 320 megahertz bandwidth support across the spectrum , and then it has MLO with multiple resource units and 4K QAM . So it says it's there . I would love to try it out First . Gotta get those . Gotta get a Wi-Fi 7 AP that's supporting that so that you can make sure you can test out that card . But either way , I'm really looking forward to MLO . I think MLO is going to be really neat . I think that that's going to be a definitely a fun stepping stone in the industry . So Gigabyte's card is coming out . I don't know if the price is not listed . Unfortunately , gigabyte has yet to list a price for this adapter , according to XDA , so that'd be great to see when it comes out .
Speaker 1 5:35 Something new and of note that's happening on the new side that I thought was interesting is Netflix is finally making the switch to their HDRDO , so dynamically optimized HDR . So for the Super Nerds where Dolby Atmos and HDR and UHD and all that other stuff , basically what's happening is now Netflix has figured out a way to stream HDR and high definition services and increments of like 8 , 10 , 12 , 16 megabyte per second , so megabyte per second , and so what they're showing is that now that it's dynamically changing that based on the amount of available throughput or based on what's happening at the time on the network , that there's a 40% decrease , 40% fewer rebuffers in testing from Netflix , so it should be able to scale up and down . Now what does that mean for picture quality ? It's supposed to stay the same , right ? It's supposed to just push some of it and your picture's supposed to remain the same , but it's going to trickle some of that data in to make sure that you've got good quality imagery . But I don't know , man , that seems kind of weird . So we'll see what happens . Anyway , it's called HDRDO , so look it up . Netflix is very excited about this . Improvements have been seen all across categories , ranging from TBs and mobile devices and tablets . So that's awesome Something on here
AI Theft, Cruise Increase, Vouchers, Attachment Rights, Holiday Wifi
Speaker 1 6:53 .
Speaker 1 6:53 I took a note about the AI that can tell your password based on your typing style . Just for funsies , they tested a Zoom call where they took a microphone and they put it on one side and they trained using an iMac or a Mac iMac , he says , using a Mac . They trained it to correlate letters with sounds when people were typing , and then they were able to get 95% accuracy on passwords . And then they did it across Zoom calls and 92% accuracy across a Zoom call . Someone could record what was being typed and play it back and decide for somebody's password . So be careful what you type . Be careful who's listening . Don't know that that model's available yet , but I'm sure somewhere out there someone can find it or recreate it . So that was pretty interesting .
Speaker 1 7:35 Uh , another wife I knew is if you're looking for to a carnival cruise , carnival , be upping their wife . I prices uh by three dollars . Twenty five dollars a day for the premium services . Don't know why , that's a note , but uh , I've never been on a cruise and gonna go on a cruise for the first time next year . It's a disney deal with her wife . I prices alike , but just be ready , twenty five bucks a day seems , seems interesting . You know , uh , I know there's a lot of airlines , carriers are trying to bring the price of it down , to give away for free , so twenty five bucks a day sounds pretty , pretty crazy . Anyway , uh , that's what's happening . That's that's a little bit of looking at the what's new , what I saw new over the last week , things that are that are popping up in and make a waves .
Speaker 1 8:12 Uh , now , what's going on right now ? Two things . Uh got an email this morning from the india , the national digital inclusion alliance , where they uh showed off the , the language for new , a cp bill that's being pushed into congress asking for cool seven billion dollars to continue a cp . Talk about a cp on the last show . Obviously this thing . It's home for me down here in south texas . If we lose a cp , twenty five million households lose access to the internet , which is bad for everybody , not just bad for the students and the people that are using it , but it's bad for anyone who operates a service that relies on people using their service via the internet . So definitely would hope to see that a lot of people and take it behind pushing to make sure those a cp vouchers uh , get pushed through and that's a billion dollars gets cleared .
Speaker 1 8:54 So that's what's happening there and along with it they're talking about poll attachment rights , which is something that , unless you've ever done citywide deployments of some type of broadband , you've never had to worry about poll attachment rights . But poll attachment rights are pain in the butt . What they are are the street lights are on the sides of the road when you're driving down the , you know , down the highway , down the main street , down your neighborhood . Those polls are owned by different utility providers and they're trying to come up with a way to make poll attachment rules . Fcc is trying to come up with a with a , with a way to make it easier to attain poll attachment rights . To give an idea when we did the city mcallon thousand polls that are out there , uh to to negotiate those poll attachment rights with a p , who's the poll , the poll owner here in the city it was . We had to go back and forth and back and forth and talk to them about what we're putting up , how we're putting it up , what mounting method my mechanism we're using , what methodology we're using , how much power it's going to draw , where it's going to go . There's all these rules and then at the end of the day there's a bill to have twenty seven dollars a year , forty bucks a year , eighty bucks a year depending on the city or municipality you're working with . So hopefully there'll be some clearance here . There's a ninety one page document released on the number twenty .
Speaker 1 9:58 Second , with the fcc stated to report and establish a new interagency rapid response team , the rapid broadband assessment team . The task force will be responsible for providing coordinated review and assessment of poll attachment disputes and recommending effective dispute resolution procedure . So anything that's good , they can help . That is going to be totally awesome , because that is that's one of the hardest things . I think . The last line in this article I was reading on .
Speaker 1 10:21 Fierce wireless says poll access is probably the single largest challenge of the industry is going to face over time . To allow people like us to build as fast as possible , go net speed cio . Richard clark told fierce last month . Uh , yeah , I mean , it's not easy to get on the polls and that's where you've got to be . So , uh , poll attachment rights . Hopefully fcc makes a room there . That would be . That'd be really cool .
Speaker 1 10:40 Next to holiday wifi tips , this is this is totally awesome . Uh , the son in the uk reports these . These amazing how to improve your wife I tips is the season for wife I and they know that the things you might want to be careful for . According to you switch dot com , fairy lights are one of the top culprits this time of years because they can admit a weak electromagnetic field which may interfere with radio waves from your wife I router . Obviously , the more fair you have , the more of an issue it could be . According to the sun , be careful with fairy lights and watch the electromagnetic frequencies that are being emitted from your christmas trees . I don't know how I feel about that . Uh , I'm sure everything puts off some type of the mf , especially something that is , you know , inocuous is a uh is a fairy light , but I thought that I was pretty interesting . Also , tinsel pencil could be to blame . Tinsel may look nice , but it too can have an impact on your broadband hub , according to the sun your broadband hub . Well , I've there's a lot to say that I'm gonna leave that one alone .
Speaker 1 12:13 You have heard that mirrors can bounce Wi-Fi signals . Well , that same thing could happen with that sparkly bit of tinsel , depending on where you put it . Do not decorate your Wi-Fi access point or your home router with tinsel . I would definitely recommend that If it's made out of any type of aluminum . I'd probably keep it away from electronics Anyway . So that's interesting .
Speaker 1 12:33 This is the cause of fire hazard , and also , people love to hide their Wi-Fi router behind their Christmas tree . Apparently , I don't know where it gets us , but having your Wi-Fi router behind your tree or your Christmas tree could affect your signal strength . This is great . The best advice they give is give your Wi-Fi access point a place to breathe . So this was awesome . Merry Christmas and happy holidays all that good stuff . With this article , make sure . Now's a great time to remind your family members and your friends , when you're at their house to put their wireless access point , not in a closet , not in the back room , but somewhere where it can actually emit a signal worth using . So thought I would share that a little bit .
Speaker 1 13:19 Interesting other news the other end of the spectrum , the Cyber Avengers . Water treatment hacks are getting a lot of press and I'm interested to see how much of this is happening via wireless . There was a town in Texas , there was a town in Pennsylvania that their infrastructure got attacked by a group of hackers , and what's crazy about it is they had the ability to shut everything down , and so I want you to . Just , no network is ever secure enough . So just putting it out there as a reminder a gentle reminder , that everything we do , it will always be under attack on a network , and we're seeing a lot more wireless attacks coming through . So I'm not saying that's what happened with the water treatment facilities . However , just be on the lookout for that Cause that's never a good thing .
Speaker 1 14:06 The Texas town of Austin is losing its luster . Question mark , question mark , question mark he asks knowingly Multiple articles . Now I've read talking about Texas seeing a slowdown in Austin and it losing its luster for a tech hub Meadow pulled out of a big building downtown and a couple of other people have been . Our businesses have been moving out of Austin and they're claying the three biggest things . Well , four biggest things here lack of diversity in talent , the cost of living being through the roof in the brutal summers . Also , the University of Texas has proven to be an unstable funding partner in the state just because of the politics that are going on in the state of Texas . So it's making it challenging to predict the ongoing investment into the local ecosystem from the UT campus . So the cost of living has made it challenging for middle-class professionals , especially people of color , to buy into that market , which is hurting startups . So a lot of interesting information from Texas Tribune on here they're competing with Google and Tesla for talent , you know , since they've got big campuses there , apple's got their big campus there also . But if you can't afford to live there , if you can't get above that wage bracket , if you can't get above that income bracket , then that limits the amount of people that you have access to from a recruiting and hiring facility . The monoculture speaks more to the income disparity that is pricing out musicians , artists and hospitality workers who are so essential to the creative culture that makes Austin a great market for startups Interesting . So I don't know , man , I mean Austin's , austin , right , and it's only gotten more expensive and the influx of people have only made a little bit more challenging here in the state . So that doesn't surprise me , to be honest , but I don't know . We'll see what happens Coming up next .
Speaker 1 15:49 That's what's now , that's what's new , what's coming up next ? Wi-fi 7 specs are coming in Q1 . Oh , this was great information
Wi-Fi 7 Specs and Predictions
Speaker 1 15:56 to read . After months of development this according to PC Mag . After months of development the tech industry is close to finalizing the official specs for Wi-Fi 7 . The Wi-Fi Alliance , the industry , the body that oversees wireless technology . Shout out to Kevin and Consuelo at the Wi-Fi Alliance the pals . Hopefully we see them in Phoenix at WLPC . A new web page has been published that mentions the release schedule for Wi-Fi 7 . Certified 802.11 BE will be available before the end of Q1 2020 , for the Alliance says which Tom's hardware was the first to report . So that's great , exciting , exciting times . Wi-fi 7 is definitely going to add some fun . So that's coming up .
Speaker 1 16:37 And then the last thing that I want to talk about , real quick , is is our buddy Tiago , and WBA , the wireless broadband Alliance , 10 Wi-Fi predictions for 2024 . So , tiago , fun , fun guy to hang out with Lots of knowledge there . You'll see a lot of things are happening in the industry . So he's got 10 Wi-Fi predictions for 2024 and beyond . Number one in the future , 10 gigabit speeds will be common place . Fiber broadband deployments will continue to expand , but 10 gig is going to come out in the future and it will be commonplace . Rapid adoption of 60 and seven will drive the ability to access additional spectrum in six gig . Awesome , love it , love it . Number two prediction the capabilities of Wi-Fi 7 will drive immersive experiences and advanced gaming and video content . That's a given right . If you build it , they will come . So definitely looking forward to seeing what's gonna happen when there's more capability and more throughput available to game developers , especially the stuff to go from the VR headset down to the phone , down to the computer and out to the world . That's gonna be awesome .
Speaker 1 17:39 Number three open roaming . Growth will continue and extend to integrate with private 5G and IoT networks . Kinda sound self-serving , not gonna lie . Open roaming is being pushed pretty hard by WVA , but that's okay . Open roaming is awesome when it works . The problem is I'm not gonna lie , I tried it on iPhone and I was like it blew my mind . It was not that easy to set up . But once you got it set up it works like a champ , so I'm looking forward to that becoming easier to get on my devices .
Speaker 1 18:06 Number four convergence will progress , enabling access to private or public 5G services over WiFi . Yes , yes , yes , this is I mean common thread here Convergence happening so that people can roam on and off networks , on and off with CBRS , with 5G , with WiFi , back and forth and to and fro . Great things happening there along those lines . Keep your eyes out for what's happening with Helium . Helium announced their $20 national plan with mobile services , so I'm always keen to see what Helium's up to .
Speaker 1 18:35 Number five network as a service will rise beyond early adopters , spreading quickly to traditional enterprises where networks provide cloud for software to find applications-centric environments . Lots of buzz there , but all stemming from network as a service . It's attracting customers because it accelerates and simplifies the deployment of devices and it's I'm that's a glass of Kool-Aid that sits on my desk that I enjoy drinking . The network as a service thing is a lot of fun to watch . It's not for everybody , but for the people that it serves , that it solves the problems for serves . It's kind of interesting . Number six the role of AI and ML cannot be overstated , with adaptive AI set to explode on networks , from enabling automatic frequency coordination to predicting network resource needs and more . I will be doing a talk about this at WLPC in Phoenix because I so strongly believe in exactly what Tiago is saying there .
Speaker 1 19:27 Number seven outdoor AFC will initially be successful in rural connectivity agree with that in countries that have open large portion of six gigs . So open AFC outdoors . Frequency coordination gotta love it , man . Outdoor AFC is gonna be awesome . Six gigahertz low power you know we've seen a lot of movement in six gigs , so I'm interested to see what's happening there . Number eight new IoT technology will help unify connectivity across multiple home devices , transforming home users experience . With IoT matter , the new standard launch in 2023 provides reliable , secure connectivity across multiple device manufacturers and now , with everyone from Apple , amazon , google , samsung all these players getting involved in matter , it's gonna be really cool to see how easy it is to get devices connected one one by one . I have like seven different IoT providers in my house that I worked with to try and get all my stuff , you know , going with home automation , so it'll be great to have it all under one roof if you will Number nine . Pilot projects and trials of tip .
Speaker 1 20:21 Open Wi-Fi will proliferate in developing countries and price-sensitive markets due to cost effectiveness and the benefits offered by an open , disaggregated model man . If you know me , you know how much I love open Wi-Fi , so it's great to see Tiago giving a shout out , shout out , saying that this is gonna be on the top 10 predictions for 2024 . I will see . I mean , it has a strong , strong value proposition , but I will stand behind the blog that I wrote , you know , right after Meto , where it said you know , someone's gotta take the rain , someone's gotta run this , someone's gotta get behind open Wi-Fi and really push it . There's been some new logos popping up with showing support for them and that's great and it's moving rapidly , but until someone gets behind it and really starts to congeal what's going on in open Wi-Fi , that's what I wanna see , that's what I'm waiting for .
Speaker 1 21:08 Number 10 and last augmented and virtual reality will gain a larger share of our daily lives at home and work . But it will require indoor broadband networks to adapt , with improvements in user interfaces and network capabilities to cater for larger groups of users . That's a tough one , of course , you know , as more capacity comes available , ar and VR will definitely have an opportunity to play , but how many people are really gonna adopt it ? You know I spent a year working for Meta and we had at least one meeting a week , fully immersed in VR . I don't work for Meta anymore and I haven't put my VR headset on in about a year and , you know , other than play a couple of games here and there .
Speaker 1 21:44 So I think when you're in the middle of it it's amazing and I loved it . I had a great time using it and we came up with some really cool applications and stuff . But there's still not that one . You know the quote-unquote , the killer app to make AR and VR something that people adopt day to day . So is that because the capacity is not there or is it because the headsets aren't there ? I guess we'll see with Vision Pro when Apple releases it . Still , three grand man , I mean dude , that's like you can't ignore the fact that that's going to be really expensive .
Speaker 1 22:15 Anyway , that being said , I'm like way over time . I try not to go more than 10 or 12 minutes , maybe 15 minutes at the most . I don't even know what I'm at right now . I feel like it's been half an hour . So I'm going to shut up and let you get on with your day or your week or your evening or your bike ride or whatever it is . I do appreciate you listening to me , having me in your ear . We've got some new sponsors to announce , which is really cool . Lots of good stuff happening . If you're interested in sponsoring Waves , please reach out to me , let me know . Druiddrulinscom or at Wireless Nerd on any of the social media . You can't see it on the podcast but on the video I'm holding a screwdriver and I don't know why I'm just like I had to fidget with something . I guess a screwdriver will work .
Speaker 1 22:50 Anyway , that being said , we're coming up on the next week , the big shutdown for everyone before Christmas . Don't know how much stuff's going to get done , but if you haven't gotten your tickets to CES , get those . It is confirmed I will be at NRF . So if you'll be at NRF , come downstairs into the basement , check out what I'm doing down there . We're going to be having a lot of fun .
Speaker 1 23:09 I don't know if I can give away the surprise of what it is or if it's been talked about , but there's something really cool happening at NRF and I would love to answer your questions regarding retail and Wi-Fi . So come on by and find me . I'll be there on behalf of the bridge to powering more networks with my employer , so come on by and check that out . So NRF , ces WLPC registrations open . Make sure you go register for WLPC Phoenix if you care anything about what's happening in the Wi-Fi industry , and I would suggest that . If you've thought about WLPC and you're on the fence , this is the one to go to . This is the 10-year anniversary . It's going to be a lot of fun . Anyway , that being said , I do appreciate you listening to me . Thank you for taking the time to put up with my voice , and I will talk to you all next week . Have a wonderful week , have a wonderful weekend . See you later . Thanks .