So is everything wireless? Or are most buildings still wired systems? Is fiber optic still in use? I liked the corp security mages using that to lob spells around a building.

Yep, all those wires just vanished forever.

Fiber optics are still in use by sec mages, yes.

And some things are still wired, sure, but you have to keep in mind that the meta-reason for wireless is to involve the hacker in the game. So yeah, there are still uber secure locked down in a vault and not connected to anything systems, but that's in a building that has plenty of other opportunities for a hacker to shine on the teams way to that vault.

...I would still have critical datastores (the ones with the "super secret X-1000 prototype" plans) hardwired even if they are contained in wireless proofed structures.

Security systems, most definitely. Heck a datajack is only 500 Small price to pay for keeping your countermeasures hack proof against wireless intruders.

Actually the BBB says that all the wires are still there but that it is the Wireless Mesh Network that actually gets used most of the time. Otherwise your signal range wouldn't be enough to reach another city and the signal is more reliable across distances when wires connect two areas.

Sorry, but I think "Wireless" is just the "End" of the whole thing. The users connect to the net with wireless connections, but most of the traffic will still go through cables

User ---Wireless---> Jackpoint ---Cable---> The Net

Why should anyone want a direct wireless connection to another city? Simply use the local hotspot and then go to the city. You don't have to connect directly to the other city...

The crash didn't physically affect fiberoptic cables. There still are fiberoptic cables and corps still know how to build them.

Buildings with wired networks may have kept it, especially for the security network.
But most of the time, people will use wireless networks : more convinient (you can access it everywhere), cheaper to install (if you don't already have fiberoptic cable installed) and to maintain. The only big issue is security. So as long as people don't care about security, they'll have wireless networks.

When they do need security, and don't really need what advantages wireless has to offer, they'll go for wired networks.

Even if we have planes and trains, I still ride buses.

IIRC, Irian is correct. I thought one of the books ... System Failure perhaps? ... specifically indicated that wires still carried the traffic over larger distances but the mesh network of nodes would handle the day-to-day traffic of the average Joe or Jane on the street.

Some of the books want to tell us, that corps will use wireless technology completely, to avoid "cable spaghetti". Imho that's not very well thought-out. Wireless makes really sense for the connection user <-> net, but the whole backbone will probably be cable. It's great to be able to walk through the office building and work wirelessly with your comlink, sure. But why should anyone want to make the connection from one town to another (or even from the 20. floor to the ground floor) wirelessly? Simply connect to the "Hotspot" (SAN) wirelessly and from there your connection will be routed through cables mostly.

I really don't think that cables will be slower than wireless connections in 2070. I assume that cables still have many advantages over wireless, so it simply doesn't make sense to make everything wireless. Making the "User connection" wireless brings great advantages, sure (that's why people already do that today). But doing everything else wirelessly doesn't.

what i suspect is that while the cables are still there, the end point boxes are going more and more wireless enabled. so that you pop a box on the end of the "old" cables and presto your wireless.

so even if there is a cabled network in place thats being used most of the day, it only takes one box somewhere with wireless enabled for the hacker to locate and he would be inside the whole network.

also, dont forget about things like wireless blocking paint and wallpaper.

i can see that when a office is rented or bought, they roll in the painters and cover all the walls closest to the outside in said paint. then they deploy the wireless network inside of that. in the process, using any existing cable available, but not bothering to lay new ones.

Blade and co are right. Just want to mention, In my games I've used alot of wired systems just because alot of people stick to the old. If the old wired security system in a 30 y-o hotel still works, why change it? Of course, they will have some wireless in addition, but not need to replace it all .

Also the security of a offline wired system is alot higher than the wireless one, as hackers must either access the system directly, finding security terminals which probably are protected by those same cameras and gun turrets you want to disable in the first place, or finding maintanence access points in walls etc. and tap into the fiberoptic cable (alot of fuzz for modern hackers, and requires special gear. ).

if for nothing else then put in a wifi access point

To oversimplify things, WiFi doesn't replace the networking. It replaces the jack plug.

Things work as they always did but you hack from within 10 meters of the signal transmitter instead of through the 6 foot cable to the jack plug.

A poorly done wireless security system is less secure than a wired one. Why isn't this a truism for all security? Because you can still isolate a wireless network via reduced signal, appropriate or treated walls, etc. What's the difference between your super secret ninja scientists of doom operating wirelessly within 10 meters of the transmitter or cabled to a jackpoint? Virtually nill. Plus, with a wireless interface, it's easier to incorporate specialized protocols to increase security.

Wireless networks are less secure than wired if you can access them from across the street. Any network security consultant who designs such a network should be shot.

PS. OMG I love Firefox. It's spell checking as I type. Woot!

Don't knock the Pringles antennas, man. They allow half of Israel to get internet despite the fact the government wouldn't allow historical sites to be torn up to put down wire.