I was expecting the standard and boring rows-of-seats at the gate for my flight. Instead, this Minneapolis-St. Paul gate area is a news stand, bar, fast-food, and a Internet café all rolled into one. Seriously, there are hundreds of iPads ready for the convenience of us travellers.
Basically, it is a order-it-yourself restaurant setup. Each iPad presents the menu, you peruse and click away at your own casual pace: drinks, foods, snack, etc. When you are done, swipe the credit card, and your order will arrive in several minutes. Otherwise, you escape into a general browsing app and just surf the (restricted) net free of charge.
I was flabbergasted on the density of all those iPads. There are several hundreds of them packed into this probably 2000 ft² of space, all of them connected to the net wirelessly. This seems to be the trend these days: super-density deployment.
A typical access point can handle up to 30 connections. Beyond that, devices start to compete for the airwaves and connectivity becomes unstable. An AP could cover roughly 100 ft. radius space. What if there are more than that many devices in that space?
Since APs operate on the same radio frequencies, their signals interfere each other and reduce the transmission efficiency. If there are more than one APs in the same general area, it is best to reduce their power to minimalize their overlapping areas. As people carrying more devices, the coverage radius of APs become smaller. These days, we see APs covering as small as 10 ft radius.
The sea of iPads at this MSP airport is fueling the explosive growth of this industry. It should not be a surprise to see “pure play” companies get snatched away by the giants. Exciting time ahead!