What does it means wifi

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is a wireless technology used to connect computers, tablets, smartphones and other devices to the internet.

Wi-Fi is the radio signal sent from a wireless router to a nearby device, which translates the signal into data you can see and use. The device transmits a radio signal back to the router, which connects to the internet by wire or cable.

What is a Wi-Fi network?

A Wi-Fi network is simply an internet connection that’s shared with multiple devices in a home or business via a wireless router. The router is connected directly to your internet modem and acts as a hub to broadcast the internet signal to all your Wi-Fi enabled devices. This gives you flexibility to stay connected to the internet as long as you’re within your network coverage area.

What does Wi-Fi stand for?

The term was created by a marketing firm because the wireless industry was looking for a user-friendly name to refer to some not so user-friendly technology known as IEEE 802.11 and the name stuck. Wi-Fi, often referred to as WiFi, wifi, wi-fi or wi fi, is often thought to be short for Wireless Fidelity and the organization that paid for the marketing firm is sometimes referred to as the Wireless Fidelity Alliance Inc.

How does Wi-Fi work?

Wi-Fi uses radio waves to transmit data from your wireless router to your Wi-Fi enabled devices like your TV, smartphone, tablet and computer. Because they communicate with each other over airwaves, your devices and personal information can become vulnerable to hackers, cyber-attacks and other threats. This is especially true when you connect to a public Wi-Fi network at places like a coffee shop or airport. When possible, it’s best to connect to a wireless network that is password-protected or a personal hotspot.

Types of Wi-Fi connections

Your options for connecting wirelessly at home are growing as mobile networks expand into the home internet realm. As with internet service, there are advantages and disadvantages to each type of wireless connection, such as speed and strength of signal. We’ve outlined a few of them here.

Wireline/router

Most homes use a wireless router to access the internet these days. The pros include convenience of setup, mobility within range of the Wi-Fi access point (router) and the ability to connect multiple devices. The cons: limited bandwidth and reduced speed as more devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, as well as potential interference from other electromagnetic devices in the home.

Mobile hotspot or jetpack

Mobile and dedicated hotspots are becoming a more popular way of connecting safely on the go. Two common hotspot devices are your smartphone and a jetpack. Most any smartphone or tablet today can be used as a temporary hotspot and is a great option if you occasionally need it. It’s easy to use and doesn’t require buying extra devices, but it can zap your battery life and data pretty fast. On the other hand, a jetpack acts as a dedicated mobile hotspot that picks up a signal from cell towers in your area just like your smartphone. More devices can connect to it and it offers a greater range of Wi-Fi. And because it’s a separate device, your smartphone battery power doesn’t get touched. The downfall is having to buy the jetpack and a separate plan.

LTE Home Internet

If you live in a rural area where your internet options are limited, 4G LTE Home Internet is worth considering. It offers high speed internet service delivered over cell phone towers and mobile networks with average download speeds around 25 Mbps. The advantages of LTE over satellite are better speeds and reliability depending on your carrier.

5G Home Internet

5G Home Internet (Fixed Wireless Access) is now in more places around the country.* Even with multiple devices connected, it’s reliable and fast enough to power your whole home. Fixed wireless access has a simple plug and play setup, which means there are no messy wires and no need to wait for a technician to come to your home for setup.

How to get Wi-Fi at home

As mentioned, there are several ways to get wireless service at your home and most depend on geographical location and availability. (See what Wi-Fi home internet is available in your area.) The majority of urban and suburban areas offer most of these services, with 5G Home Internet right around the corner. Rural areas will most likely offer satellite and 4G LTE Home Internet. If you have a wired internet service, you’ll be able to set up your own Wi-Fi network at home. By connecting a router to your modem, you can share your internet connection with all your Wi-Fi enabled devices within range. If your home has two levels, concrete walls or random dead zones, adding a Wi-Fi extender that relays the wireless signal to these areas can make a big difference.

Keep in mind that as the number of your mobile devices grows, so does the demand for bandwidth. To keep your devices running at top speeds, you may need to upgrade your internet speed plan. Verizon offers several internet services ranging from DSL and fiber to 5G Home Internet, depending on your location. For better reliability and Verizon’s fastest download speeds, check if Fios Internet or 5G Home Internet are available at your address.

_{*5G Ultra Wideband and 5G Home available in select areas.}

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What Is Wi-Fi?

Wi-Fi is a wireless networking technology that allows devices such as computers (laptops and desktops), mobile devices (smart phones and wearables), and other equipment (printers and video cameras) to interface with the Internet. It allows these devices—and many more—to exchange information with one another, creating a network. Internet connectivity occurs through a wireless router. When you access Wi-Fi, you are connecting to a wireless router that allows your Wi-Fi-compatible devices to interface with the Internet.

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What does Wi-Fi mean?

Wi-Fi is not an acronym; it is a brand name created by a marketing firm that’s meant to serve as an interoperability seal for marketing efforts.

How does Wi-Fi work?

On the technical side, the IEEE 802.11 standard defines the protocols that enable communications with current Wi-Fi-enabled wireless devices, including wireless routers and wireless access points. Wireless access points support different IEEE standards. Each standard is an amendment that was ratified over time. The standards operate on varying frequencies, deliver different bandwidth, and support different numbers of channels.

What is a wireless access point?

A wireless access point (AP) allows wireless devices to connect to the wireless network. Having a Cisco wireless network makes it easy to bring new devices online and provides flexible support to mobile workers.
What a wireless access point does for your network is similar to what an amplifier does for your home stereo. An access point takes the bandwidth coming from a router and stretches it so that many devices can go on the network from farther distances away. But a wireless access point does more than simply extend Wi-Fi. It can also give useful data about the devices on the network, provide proactive security, and serve many other practical purposes.

What is a wireless router?

Wireless routers are commonly found in homes. They’re the hardware devices that Internet service providers use to connect you to their cable or xDSL Internet network. A wireless router is sometimes referred to as a wireless local area network (WLAN) device. A wireless network is also called a Wi-Fi network. A wireless router combines the networking functions of a wireless access point and a router. Read more about wireless routers.

What is a desktop Wi-Fi router?

The most common way for users to connect to the Internet wirelessly is with a desktop wireless (Wi-Fi) router. These routers look like small boxes with multiple short antennas to help broadcast the signal throughout a home or workplace. The farther a user is from the base Wi-Fi router, the weaker the signal. So multiple wireless routers, called range extenders, usually are placed throughout the workspace. Wi-Fi range extenders, placed in an array, boost or extend Internet coverage.

What is a mobile hotspot?

A mobile hotspot is a common feature on smartphones with both tethered and untethered connections. When you turn on your phone’s mobile hotspot, you share your wireless network connection with other devices that can then access the Internet.

What is portable Wi-Fi hotspot?

A portable Wi-Fi hotspot is a mobile hotspot obtained through a cell phone carrier. It’s a small device that uses cellular towers that broadcast high-speed 3G or 4G broadband signals. Multiple devices, like iPads and laptops, can then connect wirelessly to the device, which in turn seamlessly connects to the Internet where ever you travel. Similar to a cell phone, the portable hotspot’s monthly cost is based on the data usage plan you select. A portable Wi-Fi hotspot is a more reliable way to access the Internet than searching for static public Wi-Fi hotspots.

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What does Wi-Fi stand for?

Wi-Fi became a ubiquitous technology in laptops more than a decade ago and the phrase is in daily use. Now the wireless networking technology can be found in our watches, phones, televisions and smart speakers. We know what it means, but what does Wi-Fi stand for?

You may have read, or made an educated guess, that Wi-Fi stands for “wireless fidelity” just as Hi-Fi stands for “high fidelity”. It would make sense but you’d be wrong.

Phil Belanger, a founding member of the Wi-Fi Alliance, has comprehensively dispelled the idea: “Wi-Fi doesn’t stand for anything. It is not an acronym. There is no meaning.”

The simple truth is that the organisation needed a name for their standard that would be easier to remember than “IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence”. So they hired the marketing agency Interbrand to name it and were given the choice of 10 options.

Belanger does concede that the organisation did, in the early days of Wi-Fi, include the tag line “The Standard for Wireless Fidelity”. This was because board members found it hard to imagine having a name that didn’t mean anything and wanted to subsequently explain the name that had been invented for them, but Belanger says it was a mistake to do it, and the line was quickly dropped.

What is Wi-Fi?

For many people the term Wi-Fi is now synonymous with “Internet”. But to be accurate it’s just a wireless connection standard. If you’re using a wireless device then Wi-Fi may be bringing you your internet connection, but it is not the internet.

Wi-Fi is essentially a very advanced digital radio using frequencies between 2 gigahertz and 5 gigahertz in the electromagnetic spectrum, which is around the same area as microwave ovens.

Who invented Wi-Fi?

A wireless network called ALOHAnet was created in 1971 that connected the Great Hawaiin islands. Ethernet and Wi-Fi can trace some of their history back to that.

But it was in 1991 that NCR Corporation (which began as a cash register company) and AT&T (which began as a phone company) created the precursor to Wi-Fi as a way of linking cash registers called WaveLAN.

It became so popular that eventually the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) created the 802.11 standard that we now know as Wi-Fi. In 1999, the Wi-Fi Alliance formed as a trade association to hold the reins of the Wi-Fi trademark.

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