The History of WiFi

WiFi is the technology that many people havedesigned to work over longer distances. As a
been longing for. The dream of accessing theresult it has lower data rates and the transmitter
internet quickly, cheaply and easily from anyreceiver requires more power. This means it is
location seemed so close. But has it lived up tonot useful for portable devices and is designed as
expectation?an alternative to cable from the exchange to
The technical issues surrounding WiFi are quiteyour front door or "last mile".
important. It all began in October 1999 with theAll that said, there is a great satisfaction to be
introduction of the IEEE standard 802.11b protocol.gained from sitting in a cafe with your laptop
This offered a 5 Mbit/s transfer speed and ancommunication instantly with people from all
effective range of 150-300 ft. Although not quitearound the globe and accessing vital information.
fast enough for everyone, it soon became veryWhen WiFi works, it works very well and can be
popular, offering clear benefits in terms ofa real life saver. The best thing about it is being
freedom over wired connections. A new standardable to use it on the move when you are out and
was under development and became popularabout. However this is not always as simple as it
even before it was ratified in June 2003. 802.11gsounds. Various attempts have been made to
increased the data rate to about 22 Mbit/s, whichmake WiFi available on a Pay-As-You-Go scheme
is not exactly future proof, but more than enoughbut these can be overly complicated and always
for most people. The new standard wasexpensive. There have been attempts to provide
completely backward compatible, so people withcommunity network (e.g. Sunnyvale, California is a
the old hardware could use it with the newrare success) and time will tell how widespread
hardware. This made for a seamless transition.they become.
Unfortunately there are certain limitations inherentFor the time being the best approach seems to
in WiFi. For one thing, it is susceptible tobe; find an airport, station, cafe, bar or hotel that
interference from various devices that operate onoffers free WiFi. Normally you will just need to
the same frequency (2.4 GHz). Microwave ovens,get a simple password from the establishment
Bluetooth devices, cordless phones and baby(although instructions should be provided when
monitors all have the potential to cause a lapse inyou connect). This way you do not have to
services - to the annoyance of users. 'Powerworry about the serious annoyance and
users' such as on-line gamers prefer to stick toinconvenience of setting up a payment account. In
the more reliable wired connections. Technologyfact, why should you set up a payment account?
moves on and the latest derivation of theWiFi is not expensive to set up unless you want
standard - 802.11n - will soon deliver anotherto have a complicated payment system. Another
significant step forward if you have the correctadvantage to using WiFi is that you can use it
hardware.anywhere in the world. You do not need to phone
Intertwined with all these standard we have IEEEhome when you can send photographs, emails
802.16 and it's derivatives which are better knownand chat on-line.
as WiMAX. WiMAX is similar to WiFi but it is