Wi-Fi and it’s working:

Wi-Fi is the most common term these days. Everyone search for it for getting internet connectivity in the home, office and public places. Here we have explained what Wi-Fi really means and how does it work?

Nest IoT devices
Nest IoT devices

Wi-Fi means Wireless Fidelity. Basically, Wi-Fi works on radio transmission technology. It is just like Bluetooth but it works faster and more securely. It is mostly used for wireless local area networking.

In addition, it connects a wide variety of devices such as smartphones, laptops and IOT devices to the Internet. The wireless nature of connectivity brings convenience as you no longer need a wire to connect. Besides, you won’t restrict your mobility.

The Wi-Fi has its own set of standards called the IEEE 802.11 standard. The WiFi comes with different range, speed, security and connectivity options. This flexible nature of connectivity brings more popularity to this type of connectivity rather than a wired one.

How does Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) work?

First of all, Wi-Fi is just a type of wireless connection and not the internet. Wi-Fi is the medium through which you can connect to the internet. It brings connectivity to all the Wireless devices. It may be a local area network or your home network. You can simply take a print out from your wireless printer by connecting it to your laptop/smartphone via wireless fidelity.

WiFi uses radio waves of specific frequencies in order to transmit data across various devices. The Wireless Fidelity typically uses 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz radio frequency. These typical frequencies have a limited range. The 5 GHz frequency has less range when we compare it to 2.5 GHz. However, it has higher speed than 2.5 GHz.

Furthermore, every frequency has its own channels to transmit data. This particularly helps in the crowded network as it minimizes interference between two networks. We often question, what does IEEE 802.11 stands for? Specifically, its mentioned on wireless devices. The IEEE 802.11 is a protocol that enables communication on a Wi-Fi network in different radio frequencies.

Which devices support Wi-Fi?

In today’s always connected world almost all smartphones now support WiFi. These smartphones are now simply useless without internet. Hence, most smartphones now come with WiFi as a standard.

Laptops and wireless IoT devices also need connectivity in order to work. And so, these devices also have Wi-Fi support. The smart TVs and smart speakers also come with Wi-Fi as a standard. Even you can connect your desktop or old PC to Wi-Fi via dongles.

The most important device we forgot is a router. The router is also Wi-Fi enabled. However, without the router, modern-day always-connected wireless devices won’t work. We can say that the router is a backbone of Wireless Fidelity. In order to gain access to the internet, we need a router in first place.

Furthermore, the wireless scanners, printers and other smart devices have WiFi to connect to the internet. Hence, the wireless nature of wireless fidelity brings immense potential and new opportunities in the field of IoT.

Applications of Wireless Fidelity

The most important use of Wi-Fi is the connectivity to the internet. That means, it helps to gain internet access wirelessly. In addition, you can connect to your local area network in home or office via wireless fidelity. The Wireless Fidelity helps to create a wireless access point in public places, offices and at homes. It helps to provide connectivity to many people over a single internet connection.

Modern day smartphones are now able to create a wireless fidelity bridge. In this scenario, when you turn on the Wi-Fi bridge, the smartphone allows more smartphones to connect to it. So you can share your internet connection easily with friends and family.

The city and campus-wide free Wi-Fi are now common around the world. The access to the internet through wireless fidelity in universities and cities bring people closer and allow them to share, collaborate and learn more easily. Google is bringing more people to the internet by providing free WiFi on railway stations around the world with a project name Google station. Such a unique way to connect the world is only possible by wireless Fidelity.

Different Versions of Wi-Fi

Wireless Fidelity has different versions in accordance with its evolution over time. The first version is the 802.11 protocol released in 1997. It had a speed of 2Mbit per second.

Furthermore, in few more years, more advance version came into existence with the protocol 802.11 b with the speed of 11Mbit. In the meantime, Wi-Fi Alliance came into existence. Its a non profit organisation that controls the production of Wi-Fi devices by certification. The organization holds the trademark and it also look after at technology development.

In subsequent years more standards come up with the new protocols such as 802.11 g, 802.11 n, and 802.11 ac. All these standards improve mostly the speed and reliability of the network. Now, most modern wireless fidelity routers can transmit data with the speed of 15Gbit per second. The most recent protocol is 802.11 ax with the new naming convention as WiFi 6.

In conclusion, the wireless fidelity brings easy connectivity to the internet in the modern, tech-savvy world.

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