How Does Wireless Internet Work?

Wireless internet is terminology for a relatively new form of internet connection which doesn’t use any wires or cables for connectivity. The convenience of wireless (WI-FI) internet has seen a sharp rise in usage, with the newest laptop models providing preinstalled devices to detect the frequency of a wireless connection to surf the internet.

Although nearly every web-surfer has used a wireless connection at one time or another, few can answer the question: How does wireless internet work?

To say that a computer attaches itself to an internet connection with no wires is not theoretically true. A wireless router is connected to a landline modem, omitting a digital frequency of 2.4 GHz, allowing wireless devices to connect to the internet through it.

The wireless internet is rapidly becoming a very important tool, for its convenience of allowing users to access the internet in numerous places other than their home or workplace.

So, let’s get a little more in-depth regarding how the wireless internet works:

You will connect your wireless router to your modem at home. A router is a sophisticated version of a modem, relaying connections and data back and forth from the internet. If you have a network at home using several computers, you can also use the router to connect all of them to the same wireless connection at the same time. The router performs two tasks; creating a wireless connection and linking your network together, offering a shared gateway to the World Wide Web. By connecting all your computers with ordinary network cables, you create what is known as LAN (local area network).

Basically stated, a wireless router connects your computer(s) to the internet using digital radio waves without cables; hence wireless! This system uses radio transmitters and a receiver with amaximum overall range of roughly 90m. The effective range is reduced depending on other electrical appliances and any obstructions present between the router and the computer, laptop, or other mobile device. The number of walls and doors in the signal path, and the materials from which they are made can dramatically reduce the signal strength. 

The router sends and receives data from the internet or other computers that have wireless devices within your home, or network area. The newest models and brands of laptop computers have built-in wireless cards, although you can purchase an external wireless card for models without this option. The router is an access point for the wireless internet that creates an invisible signal within its vicinity, more commonly known as a 'hotspot'. Any computers with wireless capabilities within this range can automatically connect to the internet/network.

A WI-FI hotspot is simply a communal area that transmits a wireless signal for use, which could be situated in an internet café, bar, restaurant, workplace or your home, allowing those within the vicinity to connect to the internet with their own laptops which have a built-in or external wireless card.

So there we have a very basic description of the technology behind the concept of wireless internet. The subject can be much more involved than this brief introductory article portrays, it is recommended that readers find a more advanced text if they wish to know more.