--- title: Cell Carriers Want To Use Wi-Fi To Manage Surging Demand description: Verizon and T-Mobile are preparing to use Wi-Fi networks to broadcast their cellular signals, a move that could clog up the airwaves. canonical: https://time.com/4011886/wifi-battle-brewing-cell-phones/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-26T18:29:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:06:28.101Z article:section: Business og:title: There’s a Massive Battle Brewing Over the Future Of Wi-Fi og:description: There could be serious traffic congestion over the air. og:url: https://time.com/4011886/wifi-battle-brewing-cell-phones/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4611f3b7817df445/69886109524fc032b3df43df/gettyimages-170040889.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: U.S. Government Obtained Verizon Phone Records Under Secret Court Order og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: There’s a Massive Battle Brewing Over the Future Of Wi-Fi twitter:description: There could be serious traffic congestion over the air. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4611f3b7817df445/69886109524fc032b3df43df/gettyimages-170040889.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # There’s a Massive Battle Brewing Over the Future Of Wi-Fi by [Jonathan Chew / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Jonathan Chew / Fortune Aug 26, 2015 6:29 PM CUT  NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 06: A woman uses her phone while walking past a Verizon Store on June 6, 2013 in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. News leaked yesterday, June 5, that the U.S. government had been obtaining Verizon's phone records for years through a secret court order and that the government has been monitoring business phone calls both nationally and internationally. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 06: A woman uses her phone while walking past a Verizon Store on June 6, 2013 in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. News leaked yesterday, June 5, that the U.S. government had been obtaining Verizon's phone records for years through a secret court order and that the government has been monitoring business phone calls both nationally and internationally. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)Andrew Burton—Getty Images by [Jonathan Chew / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Jonathan Chew / Fortune Aug 26, 2015 6:29 PM CUT Verizon and T-Mobile are planning to use Wi-Fi networks to broadcast their cellular signals — a move that could clog up the airwaves and lead to fierce competition, according to a [report](http://www.wsj.com/articles/cell-carriers-battle-for-wi-fi-airwaves-1440543853 "undefined") in _The Wall Street Journal_. The two wireless carriers are set to introduce LTE-U, an iteration of the LTE cellular standard that will switch to the least congested channel, which includes Wi-Fi frequencies. It eases the load on the carriers’ networks, but it could also burden Wi-Fi networks, reducing speed and quality. It’s also an inexpensive way to transmit signals, since Wi-Fi uses free, unlicensed airwaves, as detailed in a [recent](http://fortune.com/2015/07/07/wireless-mobile-industry-wi-fi/ "undefined") _Fortune_ story. This should worry companies such as Google, Cablevision, and Republic Wireless, who use Wi-Fi either as hotspots for users or to offer wireless services of their own. According to the Journal, Google officials recently wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, remarking that LTE-U was “particularly worrisome” because wireless carriers “may view some Wi-Fi providers, such as cable companies offering Wi-Fi hotspots to their customers, as competitors.” Verizon and T-Mobile are adamant their technology won’t degrade Wi-Fi connections. “Every test that we’ve done shows that LTE-U is as good of a neighbor to Wi-Fi as Wi-Fi is to itself,” Patrick Welsh, director of federal government affairs at Verizon, told the newspaper. Wi-Fi usage is already growing rapidly among mobile users, and this development could lead to network congestion. In a [report](http://www.mobidia.com/press-release/lte-network-usage-data-0 "undefined") last year by Mobidia Technology, those on Android phones consumed 6.8GB and those with iPhones consumed 8.9GB of Wi-Fi data from July to September, 2014\. In comparison, 1.8GB of cellular data were used by cellular subscribers over the same period. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4011886/wifi-battle-brewing-cell-phones/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4011886/wifi-battle-brewing-cell-phones/"},"headline":"There’s a Massive Battle Brewing Over the Future Of Wi-Fi","datePublished":"2015-08-26T18:29:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:06:28.101Z","description":"There could be serious traffic congestion over the air","url":"https://time.com/4011886/wifi-battle-brewing-cell-phones/","keywords":["Tech","T-Mobile","Verizon","WiFi","pubdesk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4611f3b7817df445/69886109524fc032b3df43df/gettyimages-170040889.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jonathan Chew / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4611f3b7817df445/69886109524fc032b3df43df/gettyimages-170040889.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. Government Obtained Verizon Phone Records Under Secret Court Order","caption":"U.S. Government Obtained Verizon Phone Records Under Secret Court Order","creditText":"Andrew Burton—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4011886/wifi-battle-brewing-cell-phones/","name":"There’s a Massive Battle Brewing Over the Future Of Wi-Fi"}}]}] ```