3G versus Wi-Fi?

The 3G Portal has an article that mentions that 3G might be edging out Wi-Fi due to it's wider adoption, easier roaming, and lower rates.

Tucker [Wireless Logic, head of indirect sales] argues that in terms of ground cover Wi-Fi is still spread pretty thinly.

‘I feel that in terms of coverage the number of hotspots needs to go up, while the pricing needs to come down substantially. People are paying around £6 per hour, while on 3G they only have to pay for the amount of data they download,’ he says.

Another weakness is the complete lack of roaming between the different Wi-Fi network operators, whereas with GPRS and 3G the whole process is relatively transparent.

Wi-Fi’s chief advantage over 3G is its higher data speeds, yet 3G has a secret weapon in the fight against Wi-Fi: HSDPA. The term stands for High Speed Downlink Packet Access; in a nutshell, HSDPA is to 3G what GPRS is to GSM.