- WiFi is the technology used to connect devices to the internet wirelessly including your computer, smartphone or any WiFi-enabled device.
- WiFi is the short form term for Wireless Fidelity and works off of the same principle as many other wireless devices, using radio frequencies.
- WiFi connections receive and transmit frequencies in the Gigahertz range.
WiFi is the technology used to connect devices to the internet wirelessly including your computer, smartphone or any WiFi-enabled device. It may sound intimidating but the idea is quite simple. Basically, WiFi is the signal sent from a router that wirelessly translates the signal into data you can use for your device.
To be able to find the best home Wi-Fi plans that meet your requirements, here’s a quick guide on how WiFi works.
What is WiFi exactly?
WiFi is the short form term for Wireless Fidelity and works off of the same principle as many other wireless devices, using radio frequencies. However, the radio frequencies behind WiFi differs from that of mobile phones, car radios and weather radios. Instead of receiving frequencies in a measure of Kilohertz and Megahertz, WiFi receives and transmit frequencies in the Gigahertz range.
Unlike the FM receivers found in cars, WiFi is in essence, two radios that are communicating back and forth that use lower power/broadcast over a much shorter distance. These two radios allow web users to download data from the Internet as well as upload files, images and information — something as simple as just submitting addresses via your browser also counts in this two-way communication.
Now, let's talk about frequency. For those who are unsure, Hertz is just a simple unit of frequency. For example, if you are looking out at sea and watching the waves wash in, you will be able to see the crest of each wave roll in. The frequency of the waves coming in will be the number of seconds between each wave crest - so if it took 2 seconds between each crest, the frequency would be 2 hertz/2 cycles per second. Comparing this example of sea waves washing into Mhz and Ghz, these waves are moving at 2 million and 2 billion cycles per second respectively in the air. In order to receive the information transmitted in these waves, your receiver needs to be set to receive waves of that particular frequency. Simple enough?
When it comes to WiFi, this frequency happens to be 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz, waves that are pretty similar to the frequency found in your everyday kitchen microwave. Microwaves utilise frequencies of 2.450Ghz to heat your leftovers up whilst your home router uses 2.412 GHz to 2.472 GHz in order to transmit data over your WiFi connection. This is exactly the reason why people who have faulty microwaves at home seem to have problems with their WiFi connection when they are trying to heat their dinner up in the microwave, as funny as that may sound!
So there you have it, that is how WiFi works in a nutshell. Let us know if you have any questions about WiFi and we will get back to you as soon as we can! Until next time, let’s just take a seat and marvel at how far technology has come and how much WiFi has improved our lives!
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