Every year, thousands of new internet
enabled devices are launched.
From laptops, tablets and smartphones all the way to eBook readers, there are a number of gadgets out there that make it increasingly easy for us to connect to the internet from wherever we are. Chances are that you have at least one of those devices, and that one of its main uses is to connect you to the internet.
I´m also willing to bet that on many occasions, you´ve tried to connect to the internet while on-the-go. So I´m sure that WiFi is no stranger to you. But have you ever stopped to wonder about what it stands for and how it actually works?
WiFi stands for Wireless Fidelity. According to the WiFi Alliance, WiFi is a radio wave technology that allows people to connect their internet-enabled devices to each other, without the expense of cumbersome cables.
Here at Fon, we live and breathe WiFi, so who better to tell you about the technology than one of our very own techies, Mike Puchol? He explains:
“We have all heard about WiFi by now – 700 million of us already use it! We know that WiFi connects us to other things and other people, and we assume it is available on all the devices we buy, just like we expect any new car to have air conditioning, so we don’t even ask the dealer about it.
But what is under WiFi’s hood?
The cornerstone of WiFi’s success has been a solid standard, 802.11b, which forced manufacturers to adopt the technology in a way that would guarantee interoperability between devices. We have seen technologies fail before because of weak standards, and manufacturer implementations that differed so much as to make it impossible to use devices from different brands for the same purpose.
WiFi works on the 2.4GHz wireless band, which allows radio devices to operate without a license – otherwise, you would need to pay a yearly fee to have a WiFi router! The drawback of this band is that it is shared with many other devices, from baby monitors to cordless phones and microwave ovens, all of which can create an interference sometimes resulting in slow connection speeds.
To solve this problem a new standard, 802.11a, was created. This allows WiFi to operate in the much less crowded 5GHz band
There are challenges ahead for WiFi, one being interference. As more devices are added, the 2.4GHz band will get more crowded. Solutions for this are the 5GHz band, as well as intelligent power management and the new Hotspot 2.0 standard.”
Hotspot 2.0 will bring intelligence to WiFi signals, as they will broadcast their capabilities to devices before connection – no more having to guess where to connect, you will simply be online. Access to public hotspots will also be simplified and safer, thanks to encryption and automatic configuration of user credentials – no more forms to fill in or passwords to remember.
Fon is working hard to integrate and implement these new technologies, which will help take WiFi to new heights.”
Do you have any other questions about WiFi? Let us know and we will ask one of our experts!
