The wifi network in the Netherlands is becoming over-congested and that is creating problems as more free services come online, experts have told the NRC.

‘We see congestion,’ John Derksen of the Telecom Agency, which is responsible for wireless communications in the Netherlands.

The cause, the paper says, is growth in use of the 2.4Ghz frequency band which is licence-exempt, meaning that manufacturers and users do not need to have licences to make or use devices that run in it.

Cafes

Some 70% of data traffic now takes place by wifi and the total is doubling every year, the NRC says. In addition, cafes, stations, buses, hotels and even complete local authority areas, such as Enschede, are offering free services.

‘There are so many hotspots that they will get in the way of each other. This is what we call interference,’ Eindhoven University professor Erik Fledderus told the paper.

The Telecom Agency warned in June that companies which base their systems on open, free and therefore vulnerable wifi networks are opening themselves up to problems.

Examples of this are the plans to run the steering system for the new Amsteram Noord-Zuid metro on the open frequency. The agency has warned the operator about the risks attached to using this ‘unprotected and vulnerable’ frequency.

The problem of over-congestion could be solved by rebuilding the networks or making more roomon the 5 Ghz freqency, providing existing users such as satellites are not hit, the paper said.