Wi-fi Green

Archive for the ‘WiFi’ Category

Dude, if you really want WiFi, stick to your laptop or PC. 3G service is what the Apple iPad boasts the most upon, but if your budget is very tight, you wouldn’t want to pay additional $130 for just 3G, and would want to enjoy the WiFi version of iPad. However, this is not it. If you’re a home-maker, and don’t step out of your house very often, WiFi will serve your purpose. But if you’re a traveler, and can’t carry your heavy laptop everywhere, your iPad with 3G connectivity will be no less than a savior. And I doubt we’d differ here. For more points on iPad3G vs WiFi comparison that help you settle on the correct iPad for you, hold on tight to each word that follows below.

iPad 3G Vs WiFi: Review on Both the Models

So, I agree. You may not be a sloth, and do move out of your house. You go to public places that have free Wi-Fi for your convenience with no security hassles of Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) technology. You sit in a restaurant, drink coffee, and start savoring the free Wi-Fi connectivity that the restaurant provides you with. But what would you do when you’re done with your coffee? You don’t want to disconnect, and so, you order another one. Bah! Public WiFi is becoming all the more common. However, it is not available everywhere. If you’re a diligent stock broker, working 24×7 on the Internet, you wouldn’t want to go for an iPad with WiFi connectivity. The one with 3G makes more sense in that case, doesn’t it?

But obviously, you cannot have WiFi range wherever you go. You’d be able to enjoy free Internet access only in places that have a Wi-Fi connectivity. On the other hand, if you’ve picked up an iPad with 3G connectivity, no matter what area of the town you’re in, unless and until your 3G plan is valid and you’ve full access to the network, the world of Internet is in your palm. 3G signals follow you even while you’re traveling in cars or trains. However, they go away when you move beyond your city (depends upon what kind of 3G plan you’ve taken). But tell me, doesn’t 3G have an edge over WiFi?

It isn’t possible to talk about wireless Internet access and not mention speed. But here, I’d like to mention that, though the iPad with WiFi is always faster, iPad with 3G connectivity offers you equally fast Internet access at many instances. Not only does it depend upon the plan you opt for, but it also depends upon the area of efficiency of your device. Okay, WiFi is faster. Period. But then, we revert to the question yet again – till where?

Last but not the least, cost of the iPad 3G is a bit more than that of the iPad with WiFi. As mentioned above, the cost of the iPad 3G is $130 more than the one with WiFi. Simply put, where iPad 3G price range lies between $629 – $829, the WiFi iPad cost lies between $499 – $699 (the upper limit depicts the additional internal memory storage). But naturally, when 3G is a costly service, price range of iPad had to exceed. In addition, while it might not cost you at all to access WiFi at public places, 3G connectivity requires a particular plan to be activated on your iPad, monthly or yearly, so that you can access it without any disruption.

The bottom line of the iPad 3G vs WiFi comparison here is, if you’re a hardcore businessman with work solely dedicated to the Internet, you might not find a device better than the Apple iPad 3G, for it is only after you use it for a while that you’d be able to figure out exactly what is 3G network capable of. Even if you’re tech-savvy with piles of money in your account, this device doesn’t fail to entice you. However, if your budget is low, and you access the Internet for no more than updating Facebook and Twitter statuses, iPad with WiFi will do the trick for you, and you need not pick up the iPad 3G. But you know, $130 isn’t so big an amount to gain some smugness, and your friends’ envy, or is it?

We live in an unplugged world today; thanks to the developments in radio communication technology. Wired Internet seems like a thing of the distant past, as most of us increasingly prefer opting for wireless Internet access. Modern wireless networking systems are easy to set up and manage. One of the major problems encountered by most wireless Internet users is a weak WiFi signal which reduces data transmission speeds, causing connectivity problems. In this article, I share some tips on how to boost WiFi signal on laptop computers.

The WiFi signal is a radio wave, which gets weaker with increasing distance of travel. The wireless router is the transreceiver, that is the source of the Wifi signal and your laptop’s wireless adapter is its receiver. The reception of the WiFi signal is therefore dependent on the initial output power at the router’s end and the distance between the router and the adapter. Let us see how to boost your laptop WiFi signal by tweaking certain settings and adding some new equipment.

How to Boost WiFi Signal on Laptop Computers?

I faced a problem with my wireless network some years ago as despite of a high bandwidth and state of the art router installed, I used to receive a very weak signal on my laptop. I decided to look into the problem and study ways in which the WiFi signal can be boosted. With some modifications that I learned about through my research, I was able to boost the WiFi signal beyond its existing limits. Whatever I learned about how to boost WiFi signal for laptop, I share in the following lines.

Upgrade Router Firmware
One of the first things that you need to do is check to see if your wireless router’s firmware is the latest one. If you find that it’s outdated, get the latest version Updating the router firmware can take care of some of the software issues that can bring down strength of the WiFi signal. For boosting WiFi signal for laptop, make sure that you install the latest driver for your wireless adapter.

Increase WiFi Router Output Power
One way of boosting the WiFi signal is increasing the output power of the wireless router. Refer to the router manual to determine the procedure for increasing the power output of the router. When the power of router’s output signal is enhanced, the WiFi signal reception on your laptop will automatically improve. If you ask me how to boost WiFi signal on laptop, most economically, increasing router output power is the best choice.

Use a WiFi Signal Booster Antenna
You can install a WiFi signal receiver booster antenna to the laptop, which will certainly improve the signal reception and your download speed will certainly be boosted. Check out antennas which offer a high gain and reduced noise levels.

Change Position of Wireless Router
Simply changing the position of your wireless router can boost the WiFi signal reception of your laptop. Physical constraints like walls can damp out the WiFi signal. So position it in such way that the signal is least obstructed by such physical barriers. A change in installed position will certainly boost the WiFi signal strength.

Use a WiFi Signal Repeater
If you need the WiFi signal to be receivable over large distances, you need to have a WiFi signal repeater installed. These devices receive the original signal from the router, amplify its strength and then retransmit it over longer distances. Use of long range wifi repeaters will certainly help in improving WiFi reception.

Attach a WiFi Range Extender Antenna to the Router
Another simple way of enhancing reception of your router is by attaching a WiFi signal booster. Once you attach an external wireless signal booster, the coverage range of the router will certainly increase, providing better wireless Internet access. Signals boosters for WiFi are available in all the major electronics stores.

Buy a New Router
WiFi antennas and signal boosters can substantially increase the range of your wireless network. The last option of course is to buy the best wireless router (2011), which provides greater signal strength and high transmission speeds. As wireless router reviews (2011) will reveal, the latest 802.11n based routers offer dual band transmission and transmission speeds in excess of 450 Mbps, which can certainly boost your laptop’s WiFi reception. Check out some more of these Buzzle articles related to WiFi reception:

• How to Boost WiFi Reception
• Wifi Antenna Booster
• Wireless Internet Antenna Booster

Hope these tips on how to boost WiFi signal on laptop computers help you improve your wireless Internet access experience. If you use a home wireless networking system, I suggest that you go for the best 802.11n router, which will not only provide you with longer range, but it will also enhance the data transmission speeds over the network. Make sure that you follow all the steps to secure a wireless network, as enhanced range makes your network vulnerable to external hacking attacks.

The Apple iPhone 4, with its unique set of features, is truly in a league of its own. With the launch of this uberphone, Apple has set high standards for itself. The overwhelming range of features and the range of applications which you can run on the phone, make it one of the best investments you could ever make. One small feature that was lacking till recently was the default facility to convert the phone into a WiFi hotspot. However, with the launch of iOS 4.3, a ‘Personal Hotspot’ feature has been added to the extensive repertoire of the Apple iPhone 4 and now it’s actually possible to convert your iPhone into a WiFi hotspot without jailbreaking it. AT&T & Verizon have launched special WiFi tethering data plans, to make the actual application of this feature possible. In this Buzzle article, I shall show you how to use iPhone 4 as a WiFi hotspot.

About WiFi Tethering

The technology which makes the conversion of your iPhone 4G into a WiFi hotspot is known as ‘WiFi Tethering’. This technology makes it possible to share the Internet bandwidth of your smartphone with other devices. It may be shared through Bluetooth, Wireless or USB cable connectivity. The earlier generation of cell phones needed special software to make WiFi tethering to convert the device into a mobile hotspot. The latest devices including the Apple iPhone 4G come with an inbuilt mobile hotspot feature.

AT&T, as well as Verizon provide a special data plan for iPhone based WiFi tethering. Currently, both companies offer a plan which costs users $20 per month, with a 2 GB limit on downloads. So if you are a new AT&T or Verizon iPhone 4 buyer, you should check out the procedure for creating a personal hotspot using your phone, that is explained in the following lines. Also check out this article explaining how to use iPhone as modem.

How to Use iPhone 4 as a WiFi Hotspot?

Let us see how to turn your iPhone 4 into a WiFi hotspot. This feature won’t work with the iPhone 3G. Here is a step wise procedure for the same.

Step 1: Update iPhone 4 to iOS Version 4.3
The personal hotspot feature was added with the Version 4.3. Ergo, it’s essential that you install the latest version, if you have an earlier version installed. Also, you must buy a WiFi tethering plan from AT&T or Verizon to use this feature. Connect your iPhone with your computer, which has iTunes installed on it. Launch iTunes and open the main menu of your iPhone, under ‘Devices’. Click on the button which says ‘Check for update’. If you have an older version, iOS will update it with the latest release. This will take a few minutes, depending on your Internet connection speed. Once the reinstallation is done, you can proceed with setting up of your personal hotspot. You may disconnect the phone from the computer now.

Step 2: Turn on Personal WiFi Hotspot Feature & Set Password
Once you have the new iOS installed and the phone has rebooted, go to the ‘Settings’ menu. There you will find an option, by the name of ‘Personal Hotspot’. Tap the option and switch it ‘On’. Once you have done that, your iPhone will be converted into a wireless router, which can provide direct Internet access to any device which connects with it through a radio link. Go to the personal hotspot settings and change the default password which provides access to your WiFi hotspot.

Step 3: Connect to the Hotspot From Other Devices
Switch on your laptop or iPad and switch on the WiFi adapter. Check out the available WiFi network connections. You will see your iPhone hotspot connection listed there. Double click on the name of your hotspot, enter the password and voila, you are connected with the Internet!

Now that you know how to turn your iPhone into a WiFi hotspot, waste no time in trying out the feature. While traveling, when you don’t have WiFi access for your laptop or your Apple iPad, you can share your iPhone’s high speed 3G connection to provide wireless Internet access. This feature substantially boosts the utility of this Apple device, making it a highly worthy investment!

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.

Both the wi-fi (wireless fidelity) and the bluetooth standards are based on separate protocols. This gives rise to the differences between wi-fi and bluetooth, which causes their fields of application to change drastically. Let’s try to understand the difference between wi-fi and bluetooth technology, comparing and contrasting them, on the various aspects of their working.

Range
Wi-fi has been a favorite for making LANs (Local Area Networks) at homes and offices, right from the time of its introduction . It is very obvious that the process becomes easy at home, if you do not need to integrate LAN cables in your system to form a network, to share the Internet connection. In offices, the use of wireless LANs causes a reduction in the cost of the LAN installation. The range of wi-fi is hence quite high, around 300 feet from the wireless networking node. Bluetooth, on the other hand has a short range of around 30 feet.

Standard
As already mentioned, bluetooth and wi-fi work on different standards. The recent wi-fi installations are based on 802.11n standard. Bluetooth devices currently follow the bluetooth 2.0 standard.

Connection and Installation
Bluetooth devices do not need any installation or configuration. The working of bluetooth devices is very simple and hence they do not require to be configured. You can simply select the other bluetooth enabled device, to which you want to transfer the data. If you want to enable the bluetooth facility in your personal computer, then all you have to do is to just buy a bluetooth adapter. The bluetooth dongle comes along with a setup CD and you can simply install the setup, to get your bluetooth enabled. However, wi-fi requires some configuration. For a wi-fi enabled network, you will need to installrouters and modems.

Type of Network
Wi-fi is used for the formation of a wireless LAN (Local Area Network). A large number of desktop computers and laptop computers can be connected using wi-fi, where as, you cannot form a Local Area Network (LAN), in the case of bluetooth. Bluetooth allows you to form a PAN (Personal Area Network).

Data Rate
Another difference between wi-fi and bluetooth is that, the data transfer rate for bluetooth is much higher than that of wi-fi. Using bluetooth, you can transfer data at the rate of 800 kbps, where as, wi-fi is susceptible to data losses and hence has lower speeds. If you are connected to the Internet using wi-fi, your downloading speed will be less than what you would get when you are connected using broadband internet.

Application of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
Because of all the differences mentioned above, there is a difference between wi-fi and bluetooth, in their applications part too. Bluetooth is used for data and file transfers, from one device to the other. You can access a bluetooth enabled printer from your computer, using it. Using wi-fi, you can not only make small data transfers, but you can access databases and softwares located in some other machine in the network too. A wireless internet access can also be provided to all the computers in the wireless LAN. In case of bluetooth, this is not possible. However, you can connect a bluetooth enabled computer to the internet, if you can access the internet with the GPRS in your bluetooth enabled cell phone.

Wi-fi is a technology that has been in use for longer, as compared to bluetooth. Almost all computers that are manufactured today have the wireless LAN card installed in them. Bluetooth is a comparatively new technology. But the cell phone and laptop manufacturers have started integrating this facility in the devices that they manufacture. The main difference between wi-fi and bluetooth, because of which bluetooth is not used as widely as wi-fi, is its range. Otherwise, the bluetooth standard is known very well, because of its high data transfer rate and the data security that it provides.

Wi-Fi is a wireless technology used in home networks and to connect mobile phones, computers and many such electronic devices over a wireless network. It is the 802.11 IEEE standard. How does Wi-Fi work? Here’s how.

The wireless adapter of a computer translates data into radio signals and transmits the signals over an antenna. The transmitting antenna is generally connected to a DSL or a LAN-based Internet connection. The wireless router in the network receives the signals and decodes them. The router uses an Ethernet connection to transmit the information over the Internet. The places or spots, which offer Wi-fi access to the Internet, are known as Wi-Fi hotspots.

The Wi-Fi signals have a range of about 120 feet indoors and 300 feet outdoors. With an increase in the distance between the user and the signal, the connection speed decreases. Wi-Fi connections allow you to get rid of the clutter of wires. WI-fi networks are easy to setup. Wi-Fi makes it possible for LANs to be deployed without cabling. This reduces the costs incurred in the network setup and expansion.

The use of Wi-Fi technology for Internet access is on the rise. Companies and households have begun opting for wireless Internet access. If you are one of those wanting to switch to wireless networking, you must know all about buying a wireless modem for Internet access. You must also know how does wireless Internet work? This article on wireless Internet service is also a must-read.