Taking away wireless bonuses reduces the functionality of deckers, doesn't it?
Somewhat, yes, but I don't like the idea of "hey let's make sure Deckers can trash around more" in this way to begin with. I'd have preferred more detailed spoofing rules.
Anyway, a hacker can still shut down any gear if they just score some marks BEFORE combat starts. And honestly, that's how it's supposed to be. Combat doesn't just randomly start out of the blue, the hacker can constantly look for commlinks, put marks on a few, Trace the Icons and get a headstart hacking the comms before combat start. Then when drek hits the fan, he can start giving reboot and eject-clip commands. And if that Smartlink is in Cybereyes, they can even make someone blind.
They can also just brick the gear/ware and shut someone down for the fight. Smartgun? Brick it, bam, their weapon is gone. Cybereyes? Go blind mofo! It's not as if most people run wires, they're still using wireless master/slaving.
And yes, the dicepool modifier was going to be gone anyway. Bringing it back as wireless bonus is what I object to, it should have stayed gone. There's already several wireless smartgun benefits, such as Free Action ChangeMode/EjectClip and the Wind reduction.