Open AccessThe role of regulation in preventing Wi-Fi over-congestion in densely populated areas
Author(s) -
Frank den Hartog,
Jan De Nijs
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of telecommunications and the digital economy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.202
H-Index - 6
ISSN - 2203-1693
DOI - 10.18080/jtde.v5n2.93
Subject(s) - commons , apartment , business , the internet , telecommunications , computer security , internet privacy , internet of things , urbanization , computer science , economic growth , political science , economics , law , world wide web
Given the ever increasing number of Wi-Fi devices in use by the public, the progressing urbanisation, and the current attempts by the industry to improve Wi-Fi system performance, we here analyse the case of apartment blocks with residents increasingly suffering from Wi-Fi over-congestion. Here, individuals use private Wi-Fi networks in an ''in house'' environment to achieve cordless connectivity to the Internet. We show that Wi-Fi in apartment blocks is a true commons and, therefore, over-congestion can only be avoided by having the individual access point (AP) operators collaborating with each other. We found that such collaboration is not inhibited by current regulation, but neither can it be enforced. However, as AP operators will most likely enter collaboration voluntarily, further regulation is not deemed necessary.