Wireless internet access has received a great deal of attention over the last few years as the industry has grown from a very small enclave of the internet industry to a sprawling presence taking root all across the globe. Known to many internet users simply by the term Wi-Fi (coined in the late ’90s as a play on words based on the recording industry’s “hi-fi” meaning high fidelity), there are a great deal of companies collectively implementing the IEEE 802.11 set of standards; companies employing such standards that furthermore have met certain industry requirements can include the catchy and now-ubiquitous Wi-Fi logo on their devices.
Wireless internet is in effect any internet connection using the aforementioned standards, and internet users need to have a particular signal detection device (at this point built into most notebooks and a variety of peripherals), sometimes referred to as a “sniffer.” Most people using wireless internet have simply created a home wireless LAN using their cable, DSL, or satellite internet connection, yet there are companies dedicated to providing large scale Wi-Fi coverage areas for service subscribers. An alternative to paying for a Wi-Fi subscription is simply to take advantage of the many Wi-Fi hotspots that crop up in most cities and even in smaller communities, a trend that is deepening with the passage of time. Of course, using the free Wi-Fi signal coming from the local library, hotel, cafe, etc., does not afford a user the ample geographical coverage area that subscribing to a paid service with a major telephone or internet provider company does.
One of the great features of wireless internet is the fact that it doesn’t have the sort of latency problems associated with satellite internet (caused by the extensive distances the signal travels to and from the relay satellite). In fact, with the right provider and using the right hardware, a person can get even faster connections over a Wi-Fi connection than over an ethernet connection, though clearly that is not the case always. Compared to cable and DSL or ADSL internet services, Wi-Fi (either paid or unpaid) offers users the convenience of mobility and the promise of an industry that still has lots of growing to do.
