There’s a bit of David and Goliath battle raging at the moment between the new-comer wireless and the reigning champion ADSL broadband technologies. Burgeoning wireless service provider Access Providers are purporting that wireless technology is the way of the future while already successful companies like iiNet and Optus roll-out more DSLAMs.

ADSL technology wades into the fray with its already extensive and continually expanding infrastructure. It already has a large market share, both business and residential. It offers high speed connection with high levels of security and stability.

Its main short-falling is that it isn’t mobile—you are tied to your desk by the wires that connect you. This physical connection leads to disruption if severed. ADSL not having “legs” may mean that it gets left behind by the more mobile technologies.

Wireless technology (WiFi and WiMax) moves with you, it is an agile and mobile opponent. The future of IT is leaning toward smaller, more mobile personal computers; laptops, PDAs, and mobile phones are becoming more powerful and much cheaper. And after all, what’s the point of having all of this mobile technology if you can’t walk out the door with it and still being connected?

However, as mobile as wireless technology is, it’s still limited to its distance from the nearest wireless connection point or “hotspot”. You can wander further, but like mobile phone technology, you need lots of these hotspots to get the coverage required and as of March this year there were still less than 1000 of these in the country(Australia). It will be some time before this technology is available to regional Australia which is currently demanding high-speed broadband access. Another problem for wireless is its security at present—let’s just say it’s easier to intercept a message being sent through the air than one being sent through a tunnel.

There are other technologies that given time may develop enough to take on or assist these two combatants. Satellite (from Telstra for example) and xMax (radio whispering) technologies along with WiFi may all provide the coverage needed to defeat the hard-wired ADSL. There are also pre-existing cable and optic-fibre technologies along with a technology that is being developed enabling transmission over power lines, which are joining the battle. Once again these technologies are hard-wired.

It is more likely that there will be no clear winner. Currently ADSL is here to stay—it already has the infrastructure and the customers to support it and allow it to continue to grow. However, given time, more and more of those customers will shift to using laptops and PDAs and will prefer the ability to roam while connected. Wireless technology, given a larger market share, can broaden its infrastructure and gain the funds for research and development that it sorely needs in order to equip itself for this battle. Already, many are using wireless routers for their ADSL connections and it won’t take much for them to consider being tied to their homes and workplaces an unnecessary restriction. Surely they will appreciate the ability to walk out the door with their connection intact. Perhaps in the future we will use the right tool for each situation—using wireless ADSL routers around the home and office, WiFi and xMax (or similar) technologies when we are out and about, satellite technology when in remote areas and plugged-in/hard-wired (optic fibre, cable, power-line or ADSL) technology when security is essential. When our connections can be sustained and blended as we move, from one technology/place to another and is available through one provider, we will all be winners.