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Wi-Fi was intended to be used for wireless devices and LANs, but is now often used for Internet access. It enables a person with a wireless-enabled computer or personal digital assistant to connect to the Internet when in proximity of an access point called a hotspot.
Certified products can use the official Wi-Fi logo, which indicates that the product is interoperable with any other product also showing the logo.
Some argue that Wi-Fi and related consumer technologies hold the key to replacing cellular telephone networks such as GSM. Some obstacles to this happening in the near future are missing roaming and authentication features (see 802.1x, SIM cards and RADIUSFor the geometric term, see radius and circle. Radius (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service) is an Authentication, Authorization and Accounting ( AAA) protocol for applications such as network access or IP mobility. It is intended to work in both lo), the narrowness of the available spectrum and the limited range of Wi-Fi. Despite such problems, companies like Zyxel , SocketIP and Symbol Technologies are offering telephony platforms ( Central Office replacements and terminalFor other uses of the word terminal, see the disambiguation page. In the context of telecommunication, a terminal is a device which is capable of communicating over a line. Examples of terminals are telephones, fax machines, and network devices in a VOIPs ( phonePhone is also a colloquial term for a device to transmit speech. See telephone In phonetics and phonology, a phone is a speech sound considered as a physical event without regard to its place in the sound system of a language. Compare with phoneme, a sets)) that use Wi-Fi transport.
Many operators are now selling mobile internet products that link cellular wireless and Wi-Fi radio system in a more or less transparent way to take advantage of the benefits of both systems. Future wireless systems are expected to routinely switch between a variety of radio systems.
The term 4G4G (or 4-G) is short for fourth-generation the successor of 3G and is a wireless access technology. It describes two different but overlapping ideas. High-speed wireless access with a very high data transmission speed, of the same order of magnitude as a is occasionally used for Wi-Fi, the implication being that the bandwidth and capabilities offered are already greater than those promised by the 3G3G (or 3-G) is short for third-generation mobile telephone technology. The services associated with 3G provide the ability to transfer both voice data (a telephone call) and non-voice data (such as downloading information, exchanging email, and instant me cellular telephone standards.
The main difference between cellular and Wi-Fi is that cellular system use licensed spectrum, and Wi-Fi is implemented in unlicensed bands. The economic basis for their implementation is therefore completely different. The success of Wi-Fi has made many people look to unlicensed spectrum as the future of wireless access, rather than spectrum licensed and controlled by large corporations.