The IT industry is awash with all sorts of conflicts: Novell NetWare versus Microsoft Windows. InfiniBand versus Ethernet. Open source versus the rest of the world. With so many conflicts to choose from, it's hard to single out one more worthy of discussion than another. But my topic today is a personal conflict — it is a conflict that separates me from many of my colleagues and, more important, my son. It is the conflict of choosing a wide-area wireless technology.

People looking for "everywhere" connectivity to the Internet have two choices. One choice is wireless hot spots — zones of 802.11 connectivity in which you can uplink your 802.11-enabled device to the grand and glorious cyberspace of the Internet. The other choice is third-generation (and fourth-generation) networks that the cellular phone carriers provide, and in which you use a special device to uplink your device into the same grand and glorious cyberspace.

Hot: 3G

I'm on the cellular side of the conflict. I've been using 3G connectivity for my smart phone and my laptop for more than two years now. This technology lets me surf the web and process e-mail at reasonably fast rates (broadband speed).

In the case of my smart phone, the 3G technology is integrated into the phone itself. When it comes to the laptop, I can either use my smart phone as a conduit to the Internet or purchase a separate device. You can get laptop-friendly devices in the form of PC Cards, ExpressCards, or USB sticks. The downside of using a separate device for your laptop is that you have to pay for a separate plan. Therefore, if you have both a smart phone and a laptop device, you have to purchase two service plans. Plans run around $50 a month for unlimited data access.

The cost might seem high, but if you travel as much as I do, you make it up by not having to purchase Internet access in hotel rooms or airports. The other significant advantage is that connectivity is available wherever you are. On more than one occasion, I've had my laptop open and online while I was in the back of a town car (or taxi) riding from the airport to a hotel (or vice versa). And on more than one occasion, I've used Google on my smart phone to resolve an argument over the dinner table. (Do you know all the words to the "Spiderman" song?)

So as you can see, I think 3G access is hot.

Not Hot: Hot Spots

Many of my friends and colleagues and, sadly, my son think I'm delusional. They say 802.11 is the way to go. They point to all the wireless hot spots available in hotels, airports, and coffee shops. Many are free; others are relatively low cost.

My friends also point to the convergence of Voice over IP (VoIP). They use services such as Skype, SIPphone, Vonage, and others to employ their laptop or PDA as a phone — at much lower costs than what cellular plans charge. Many smart phones also support 802.11 connectivity, so my friends claim that they can "get the best of both worlds."

I don't dispute the value of 802.11. Before I converted to 3G, I was a strong 802.11 advocate. I used to run around airports with my little wireless network detector. I'd have my credit card handy so I could log on to any paid hot spot I could find. I thought I was living the high life.

But then I looked at all the bills that I'd racked up while using paid hot spots and hotel connectivity. I thought of all the miles that I'd walked scanning for hot spots (looking like some Star Trek character with a tricorder). I remembered the frustrating times when I couldn't find a hot spot at all. And that's when I made the switch.

If 802.11 becomes truly pervasive and free (or at least offers a more realistic subscription program), I'll reconsider. If I stop traveling so much, I'll reconsider. In the meantime, I have to regard hot spots as Not Hot.

Sean Chandler is a computer and network consultant who has nearly 30 years of field experience. Astro, a border collie with more than 40 dog years of data processing experience, provides technical support to his master, Sean. You can reach them both at schandler@SystemiNetwork.com.