Wi‐Fi networks and the rerun of the cycle

Abstract

While it is quite natural for us to be drawn to the new potentialities wireless fidelity (Wi‐Fi) represents, we should give pause and place it within its proper context and take a long‐term view of the phenomenon. One of the repeated shortcomings of the research on new technologies has been that the researchers have time and again studied them in isolation. A new technology does not strike roots and grow on a virgin ground. Instead, it encounters a terrain marked by old technologies. The new technology’s growth then is shaped not only by its own potentialities but also the opportunities and restraints created by the systems based on old technologies. In order to expand the perspective beyond Wi‐Fi to those that preceded it, this paper draws on the framework provided by Infrastructure Development Model (IDM), which delineates eight stages through which infrastructure networks (railroads, telegraph, telephone, and others) typically go in their development, to study its emergence.