Would you like some wireless with that sandwich?

2/13/2010 5:35 PM EST

No, I am not talking I the sense of biological harm, there is no evidence for that and there is solid research negating it. I mean harm in terms of RF pollution, interference, hard-to-diagnose problems, and reduced link reliability and integrity. Even if each RF link meets appropriate regulatory stands–and let's be real, here: many don't, despite their labels–the channel loading due to built-up noise and interfering signals can compromise performance. There are even well-documented cases of home appliances such as clothes washers operating erratically due to nearby low-power RF sources such as cell phones.

One of the problems with this proliferation and profusion of RF links is that is often difficult to isolate and debug them and isolate them in a real-world situation. With a wired link, you can physically disconnect the cable/connector, of course. But with a wireless link, you often can only disable the link by shutting off the associated device. Turning the unit "off" may not do this, so in some cases can only be done by removing its battery (and then there are devices which have no accessible battery. As we all know too well, the alleged "off" setting of many devices is really a sleep mode, not a hard disconnect of the power-supply subsystem.

Will all this RF, both useful and trivial, come back to haunt us in our homes, or public places, or as we sit down at the local coffee shop for a cup while surfing, talking on our cell phone with Bluetooth headset, using our wireless mouse, and more, plus similar from others around us? As they said in the old days: "stay tuned for more." ♦