Wi-fi Green

Archive for September, 2011

Well, as far as the question, what does wifi stand for, is concerned, the answer is simple and short. Wifi stands for Wireless Fidelity. It’s a subject of heavy research and of great technological advantage. Here, in this article, we will not end our discussion on the subject, by merely knowing the answer, what does the acronym wifi stand for. We will go into a little more detail and understand, what is this wifi technology and how does it work.

What does Wifi Mean?

Wifi is used for forming Wireless Local Area Networks. In other words, it is used for sharing information between computers which are not connected through wires or cables. The standard that is followed for wifi is the IEEE 802.11 standard. Information is converted into radio signals and then transmitted through the wireless medium. Let us try to understand how does wifi work. The information that you want to transmit is converted into radio signals through the computer’s wireless adapter, which is transmitted using an antenna i.e., connected to the wireless adapter. Inlaptop computers with this facility, the wireless adapter is inbuilt and the antenna is generally parallel to the computer screen. For sending the same information to the Internet, these radio waves are received through a wireless router, which performs the task of transmitting the information using a wired Ethernet connection. For receiving the information, the same process is followed in a reverse methodology. The wireless router and the wireless adapter receive the radio signals and convert it back to the format of 1s and 0s (i.e., the binary format). Because large amount of information needs to be transmitted through wifi devices, hence the frequency used for wireless transmission is considerably higher, somewhere in the range of 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz or higher. The range of frequency used also depends on the various subdivisions of 802.11 like 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g or 802.11n. For example, 802.11a can transmit data at a frequency of 5 GHz while 802.11b can transmit data at a frequency of 2.4 GHz. Read more on how does a wireless lan work.

Where is Wifi Used?

The application of wifi is widespread. The most important feature about this technology is that it allows you to connect to the Internet. You first need to connect your computer to a wireless network which has a gateway that connects to the Internet. You must however have access to the network. This means that if it is a secured wireless network, then you cannot connect to the network without having the wireless encryption key. Let us now try to understand what are wifi hotspots. Wifi hotspots are particular areas where you cannot connect to the Internet, without the requirement of a wireless encryption key. For example, in certain coffee shops, airports or libraries, the wifi facility is automatically enabled. If you have got two or more laptops in your home, with the wifi facility, you can simply connect them using the wireless connectivity wizard available in ‘network connection’. Follow the simple steps in the wizard and connect to all the laptops in your home. If one of the computers is connected to the Internet, then simply providing that computer’s IP address in the option for default gateway, will allow all other computers in that wireless network to have Internet access. There are also efforts to connect entire cities through wireless network, such that the entire city is a wireless hotspot. One more aspect that we need to deal with out here, is a common question that is often asked, ‘what does wifi capable mean’ or in other words, ‘what does wifi enabled mean’. Well, by wifi capable, we mean, that a certain device has the wifi feature enabled in it. Read more on, how to connect to wifi.

The term wifi standing for ‘Wireless Fidelity’ has in fact also been used by the Wi-Fi Alliance, in its press release and documents. This features was previously known by the name IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence. The term Wifi was given by Interbrand Corporation, which was hired by the Wireless Alliance, to provide a name that was a little more catchier than the previous name. They perhaps thought it to make something synonymous to HiFi (High Fidelity), but in the later publications of the Wi-Fi Alliance, they defined the acronym wifi as Wireless Fidelity. Well, this was all about, what does wifi stand for. It is a very interesting and important technology, that provides a lot of promises for the future. Just imagine, an entire city or for a matter of fact the entire country connected through Wi-Fi will provide such an easy way for information sharing, which is the trend of the day.