Three Technologies That Will Change the Way You Use Wi-Fi

1. More seamless mobile connections. When you get off a plane, you turn your smartphone on and, voilà, you get service. This type of cellular roaming convenience is coming in the near future for Wi-Fi.

You won't need new phones or tablets. Portable Wi-Fi devices will require only firmware, software or operating system updates to make them Passpoint compliant, says the Wi-Fi Alliance, an international nonprofit group shepherding Passpoint's adoption and certification.

Once Passpoint compliant, phones will automatically connect to the most secure and powerful Passpoint Wi-Fi hotspot available for all data activities. That will mean less need for spotty and slow 3G or even 4G data connections.

What it means

What it means: More widespread Wi-Fi should make travel communications easier. Employees could more easily access attachments and transfer documents, as so then as avoid costly hotel Wi-Fi charges. Voice connections via VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) as well could save businesses on cellular costs.

Any business can set up its own Passpoint hotspot, at that time partner with a local cellular carrier or Passpoint hotspot operator and earn a commission for any resulting Wi-Fi traffic.

2. Faster Wi-Fi communications. Today's fastest Wi-Fi protocol is 802.11n, or just "n," which provides theoretical data transfer speeds of around 300 megabits per second.

The crowded 2

Instead of operating in the crowded 2.4 GHz frequencies along with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and wireless communication gadgets, 802.11ac Wi-Fi will transmit data in the relatively vacant 5 GHz spectrum.

For businesses, this would mean more reliable in-office connectivity and could reduce or eliminate the need for complex and expensive wired broadband connections. For portable devices, speedier downloads via gigabit Wi-Fi would increase battery life.

Research called Super Wi-Fi

Hotspots measured in miles in other words than feet may be coming shortly via a research called Super Wi-Fi, which uses so-called TV white space, unused over-the-air spectrum recently approved by the FCC for commercial use.

What it means: These lower frequencies allow wider and more powerful wireless signal propagation. An indoor Super Wi-Fi 40 mW transmitter creates a Wi-Fi hotspot up to five times the range of current Wi-Fi hotspots. That is, a hotspot blanketing more than 1,000 feet would be enough to cover a small business office with a single router.

The drawback is that Super Wi-Fi speeds tend to be slower than regular Wi-Fi. For instance, the first Super Wi-Fi network in the U.S. launched in Wilmington, N.C., in January and offers speeds of just one to two Mbps over an area of between one and two miles. It's faster than 3G nevertheless a crawl compared to any other Wi-Fi research.

New York-City-based freelance writer who'

Stewart Wolpin is a New York-City-based freelance writer who's been writing about research for near 30 years. His work has been published by Popular Science, NBC Universal, Rolling Stone, Playboy and Consumers Digest.