Jobs ' long-cherished wish: Home Wi-Fi should be shared

Jobs likes to walk around the house. He also likes to take a walk with him in his pocket when he has just launched the landmark iphone generation smartphone. But the wireless network was poor and slow, and a lot of Wi-Fi was supposed to be an ideal alternative, but most of them were password-protected and not enjoyed.

So Mr Jobs is determined to find that free, secure home and small business Wi-Fi sharing is not only possible but a common option. Even plans to find other companies to join the consortium to make this happen.

The idea is to use as many wireless routers as possible to form a "guest receptacle", a net that is essentially a second Wi-Fi network independent of the original home network and has its own name. Mr Jobs wants the industry to encourage the public to share bandwidth with these visitors ' networks and let strangers enjoy them. In this way, smartphone users can jump from one hotspot to another without logging on while roaming, enjoying a seamless internet connection.

In terms of security, Jobs's idea was that visitors ' networks should not be allowed access to the AP's main network, as well as the computers, printers, and other files shared by the network.

So far, large public consortia for home Wi-Fi sharing have not yet emerged, but Apple and some of the cable-free manufacturers have indeed implanted guest network functionality into their products, but these features have not been heavily used by ordinary users. According to the data asked by Dr Mo to a large home routing manufacturer, the utilization rate of its guest network is about 15~20%.

It is true that this matter has encountered many difficulties. But the difficulty does not mean that we should not continue to work hard. This free, open cross router brand and broadband operators Wi-Fi roaming network is my perfect embodiment for everyone, everyone for me.

Difficulty 1: Guest network settings

Although a lot of no line by all provide a visitor network function, but for most small white, the setting of the visitor network is just like through the mined area. Apple's airport route is relatively simple, with a clearly labeled "Activate Guest network" switch in the Wireless tab of its Mac and iOS version of Airport utility. However, users still need to make other settings and understand some network terminology. This process should be simplified as much as possible.

Difficulty 2: Remove the security risks

The worry for open-minded owners is that their networks may be hacked off. So even if you provide a network of visitors, they will also have access to the password and are only open to people they know.

Therefore, the industry must find a way to build a convincing wall between the user's own network and the Visitor network.

Difficult point 3: Rub the net

Although the spirit of the Internet is I for everyone, everyone for me, but many people often only remember the second half of the sentence. Jobs's vision is to open Wi-Fi so that people who pass by look at mail or perform some low bandwidth tasks. But there are always a lot of people in the neighborhood's high-speed Internet access, few people are willing to be generous to their own every month to make good dozens of of the network to provide free to others to see the film.

In this regard, the technical community should enable users to make a very simple and clear way to the visitors network bandwidth, time constraints.

The good news is that some companies and organizations are on the right track. FON can allow its members to share Wi-Fi bandwidth, provided the user uses a FON brand or a router with FON technology. At present, this technology is mainly used in Europe, it is difficult to popularize in the place where Fon is not used.

Wired network Comcast also launched a network of visitors, named Xfinity Wi-Fi home Hotspot, but only xfinity subscribers to use, and its settings are more complex, you need to open a Web page for different operating systems and devices for specific settings.

The Wi-Fi industry is also taking action to streamline the use of public and commercial hotspots. The technology, known as Passpoint or Hotspot 2.0, can automatically connect hotspots and save the cumbersome logon process of using Wi-Fi in cafes or airports.

In addition, EEF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) also initiated the open Wireless Movement. The initiative aims to create a truly free, open, Cross-platform and wireless roaming network for devices and providers. But at present the project is only a geek project, focusing mainly on the development of the firmware needed to recreate the wireless router.

Wi-Fi deployment should be very common in the streets of the city, no matter where you go to open the phone can find several Wi-Fi signal but can not be used. So now is the time for the tech giants to tackle the problem and fulfill Mr. Jobs's long-cherished wish.