Reg Hardware's Tony Smith has an interesting article today looking at the growing problem of 2.4 GHz interference as home Wi-Fi networks become increasingly popular.

Smith's Linksys WRT54G wireless router supports two Macs, two PCs, a Nintendo Wii and a host of handhelds, and he's never had a problem with it -- until now. "Over the last month or so, it's begun to drop connections randomly and without warning," he writes. "Parts of my home once in reach of its transmitter have mysteriously become dead zones."

The problem, Smith suggests, is that his "fairly typical London street" now has more WLANs than it can handle -- he can now detect eight within range of his home. "So what do we have here?" he asks. "Is the Wi-Fi standard simply incapable of coping with a certain density of access points at a given location?"

"We're clearly running up to the limits of the technology, not in terms of data throughput speeds, but how many WLANs can co-exist and still operate efficiently," Smith writes, noting that the situation is only going to get worse as Wi-Fi moves quickly beyond early adopters to become an omnipresent home networking solution.

"Maybe I should ditch all this wireless kit and start plugging in powerline Ethernet adapters -- like the ones offered by Netgear and Devolo -- around my home," Smith writes. "I lose the freedom of movement wireless provides, but at least I'll be sure of a connection."