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.