Broadband News

London is WiFi Capital

London is WiFi Capital

(15-06-07) - The British capital has pushed ahead of New York to take the title as the “wireless capital of the world” according to a survey published yesterday.

The study by the RSA, who specialise in internet security, showed an increase of 160 per cent in wireless access points (WAPs) for businesses and public hotspots across the city. This brought the total to 7,130 points, up from 2,747 in 2006.

The huge rise in business and public hotspots - many of which are unsecured - not to mention the hundreds of thousands of home WiFi networks, means that you can now connect to the internet almost anywhere in the capital. While the RSA praised the increase in encryption technology such 802.11i and WPA, they said that despite increased awareness, between one quarter and one fifth of business WiFi networks are still unsecured and at risk of hackers.

The report also noted that 30 per cent of the networks studied were preconfigured - up from 22 per cent last year. While this makes set-up easier, it does make networks easier to hack in to.

Chris Eagle, communication manager at BroadbandChoices.co.uk, said: “Despite an overall increase in WiFi networks across the capital, London trails behind New York when it comes to public hotspots - only six per cent of the noted access points are hotspots compared to New York’s much wider coverage at 15 per cent.

“Concerns have also been voiced about the potential health risks of so many WiFi signals, although scientists say that these are largely unfounded.”

Related article - WiFi Health Risk?