If recent events are any indication, vanilla 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi is starting to run into some headaches and there might be very little anyone can do about it. As an unlicensed wireless spectrum, anyone can use 2.4 GHz spectrum within the Federal Communications Commission ground rules-- and that's the underlying problem.

According to Wikipedia, the tragedy of the commons concept was first written about by Garrett Hardin in 1968. Multiple individuals, acting independently and solely and rationally consulting their own self-interest will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource even when it is clear that is not in anyone's long-term interest for this to happen.

Harden used the example of medieval cow herders in Europe overworking common grazing land and applied his theory to environmental protection, but more recently wireless policy wonks have used the tragedy of the commons as a straw-man for making more unlicensed wireless spectrum available for public use.  

The Wireless Wonk Crowd has argued that the tragedy of the commons model doesn't apply to unlicensed wireless and that any conflicts will magically work themselves out just like they have with 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi usage.

Unfortunately, things are getting a little ugly in the 2.4GHz meadow and it's time for a reality check.

Front-and-center example public example number 1 is the official unveiling of the iPhone 4 in San Francisco. CEO Steve Jobs (News - Alert) couldn't get Wi-Fi network signal in the Moscone Center during the demo and asked audience members to turn it off, a request that made the NBC nightly news. Some blamed the Wi-Fi network setup in the Moscone, pointing out that Google had a similar problem two weeks before the Apple (News - Alert) rollout, with 2.4 GHz Bluetooth clobbering an on-stage demo. Others pointed out that the tech-heavy blogger crowd hauled in access points and Wi-Fi hotspots, clobbering whatever planned infrastructure was supposed to deliver.

The bottom line was the tragedy of the commons, writ Wi-Fi in 2.4 GHz.

And it's not a simple problem to fix because of the FCC (News - Alert) rules of the road for unlicensed spectrum. So long as devices are within specific power broadcast levels and don't intentionally interfere with other devices, pretty much anything goes -- covering everything from microwave ovens to the latest smartphones.

You may witness a beginning of Wi-Fi tragedy of the comments in your own home or office.  Fire up your laptop or smartphone and take a look at how many wireless networks there are around you. Everyone is using the same spectrum and if everyone's Wi-Fi software isn't upgraded to the latest version, there could be speed and/or interference problems. Turn on an older microwave oven and life might get real interesting.

One solution to escape pending 2.4 GHz problems is to move to 5 GHz and live there until it starts to see problems. Does that buy you five years? A decade? Nobody knows, but this issue isn't going away.