Almost every Kharkiv institution – from restaurants to sports complexes and saunas – is considered to have good manners if it has a point of access to Wi-Fi.
However, with the widespread proliferation of 3G, Kharkivens have access to high speed internet without having to connect to a public network (which is not always safe). Does it need to maintain and develop Wi-Fi infrastructure or very soon it will be possible to use 3G only?
In favor of the 3G says several factors: availability in different regions of Kharkiv, good high speed (especially compared to GPRS), which is enough even for downloading and watching movies.
In addition, for several years, in Ukraine increases the number of smartphones, which support 3G format, that means the number of people who have no need to search for Wi-Fi to send mail, will only increase.
At the same time, according to forecasts of a British company Juniper Research, by 2019 about 60% of global mobile data traffic will be behind Wi-Fi. However, the bulk of this traffic will be used for Internet connection at home (the router will distribute the network on all devices). But in the public places will lead 3G.
On the other hand, in Ukraine, which launched the third generation network behind time, the situation may differ from global trends. We still have the institutions where Wi-Fi infrastructure is simply necessary. For example, 3G from “Kyivstar” in the Kharkiv Metro is working rather poorly.
Thus, there is a partial need to develop Wi-Fi infrastructure in Kharkiv. The most promising is development of 3G – coverage of the maximum number of settlements, and Wi-Fi – in areas where 3G can’t provide sufficient speed and good quality.
