FierceWireless recently shared an article on the history of Wi-Fi, which included early skepticism from wireless carriers about how the technology could be used as a cellular offload.

The article goes on to discuss the various ways carriers viewed Wi-Fi as an enemy in the past, criticizing its business model, coverage and security. But now, according to the article, “it’s difficult to think of a carrier not using Wi-Fi in some way to relieve macro network congestion.“

However like we discussed in our recent blog post, Fixing Wireless Data Congestion: Where to Start?, while Wi-Fi plays an essential role in for expanding network bandwidth, it doesn’t address the impact of smartphone growth on the signaling infrastructure. Therefore, Wi-Fi will not be enough to combat the signaling storm.

In addition to Wi-Fi and other bandwidth-adding technologies, carriers and app developers will need to work to make apps more efficient to maximize the full value of Wi-Fi and others. One way to do this is through traffic optimization solutions like our Open Channel that can dramatically reduce signaling and bandwidth usage – no matter what network you are on.