Wifi is a physical connectivity layer. It’s like fiber optic and LAN cable. Only it’s wireless.
Ethernet is a protocol that can be implemented on wide variety of physical mediums. RJ 45 LAN cable is the most popular type of Ethernet physical layer although fiber optic Ethernet also exist.
Now one of the most common use of Ethernet is to provide internet from a router to a connected device, via a cable.
Similarly wifi provides internet connectivity with the help of a wireless channel. No cables involved.
With that cleared. Yes you can use wifi without internet. But if the wifi device has no internet from the modem, then you’ll only be able to browse services that are local to that device.
[An example of this is the wifi admin web app you are able to access even without internet. You can try this. Take out the internet cable from your WiFi device and try connecting to the admin panel. It should work without any problems. ]
Infact this is one of the basic principles of offline physical internet technology that allows you to connect to WiFi devices without needing internet. Enabling all sorts of new interactive technologies from payments to advertisement.
Can it be faster? Well wired communication is always going to be faster than wireless communication because of a dedicated physical communication channel that never has to deal with interference. Ethernet speeds for example have already reched 100 gbps. Some manufacturers also report 400gbps speed.
Where as wifi is at about 11 Gbps mark. But I think that is fast enough for practical purposes. Considering that 4k streaming requires a tiny 25 Mbps of speed.
Add to that the convenience of setting up and maintaining wireless networks and you’ve got very compelling reasons for using wifi.
Wifi passpoint is codified by IEEE in the standard 802.11u. This standard would make a wifi capable device interoperable among various service providers. Some of the features of 802.11 u include
1. Network discovery. Allows the client devices to discover varoius types of networks through access point advertisement. These networks can be free, public, private or paid.
2. Network discovery will be enabled by Generic Advertisement services that will allow the client devices to query for more information on an access point **before** they are connected. Today access point information is available only after device connects.
3. Generic advertisement services will be powered by Access network query protocol or AQNP which defines the mode of communication between a client and access point to discover information like roaming partners, authentication methods etc
In addition to this 802.11 provides a better quality of service on a per device basis as well as an inproved selection interface un- authenticated users to enable them to choose a wifi service of their preference.
The key strategy behind 802.11u is network data offloading. Mobile networks like 3g ,4g and 5g are good for voice and messaging services like traditional mobile networks have been. And while they have improved data access they are too costly compared to broadband and wifi.
A single network for both voice and data connectivity has also put an undue burden on cellular networks therefore nations are now embracing wifi as the universal and standard medium for data communication. For example check out Bharat wifi plan
Two ambitious government led initiatives to provide a convenient wifi based access to their citizens.
Workrock wireless’ wifi beacons enable single authentication wireless access for users. Our techology digitizes key economic sectors of banking, tourism, retail, transport and education through unified internet access as well as through wireless offline applications that can work even where internet has not yet reached.
Yes it is true. Different devices may have different speeds according to the kind of their wifi receivers.
Wifi speeds have evolved in generations. This is why when you see the wifi specifications on the device it will be listed something like this
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax
The letters a,b,g,n,ac,ax denote different wifi standards that the device can work with.
So if this hypothetical device connects to a router with 802.11n capability it will get speeds according to 802.11n standard and so on.
The good thing here is that most wifi devices ,both base station and client, are backwards compatible so they work across a variety of standards. In this respect the members of wifi alliance and it’s partners have done a terrific job! Otherwise industry is rife with examples of backward incompatibility. Thankully wifi avoided this route.
Finally as an example take a look at Qualcomm snap dragon 855 mobile platform that powers the recent one plus 7 mobile among many others phones.
Which means that it can be used with a wifi router supporting any one of these standards. Accodingly it will get speed that corresponds to that standard.
So when you upgrade your router to new standard all your client devices automatically benefit.
Workrock wireless’ wifi beacons help in digitizing key economic sectors of banking, transportation, tourism, retail and education.
On Intel’s wireless adapter support page [1] you can find a very terse statement to the effect that its wireless card can’t work as access points. Here’s the exact wording if you’d like to read for yourself
All current Intel® Wireless Adapters are client-only devices and don’t support the master or AP mode. The Intel Wireless Adapters can support the Wi-Fi Direct (peer-to-peer) or the hotspot features.
Now I don’t know about you but I was thoroughly confused about this can support hotspots but not access points thing. So to save anyone reading this post some time I want to clear any doubts about the capabilities of Intel’s wireless cards.
It goes without saying, but I’ll say it nevertheless that this is a general explanation (applies to every wireless adapter from) but you will have to evaluate each adapter individually to find its specific capabilities.
An access point by definition allows devices to connect to the wired network. Connection to the access point itself may work over wires or wirelessly or both.
Intel’s wireless adapters are radio only devices. Meaning they don’t have any input slots for LAN /ADSL cables. This means that unlike routers they can’t form a wired connection.
On the other hand since the wireless adapters have radios they can function either as hotspots or as clients. Now it is fairly obvious that these adapters will form a part of much larger system in either a desktop PC or a laptop.
What Intel is trying to say here is that the wireless adapters themselves don’t have an ability to be wired (duh?). However if you use them in conjunction with an ethernet card or an NIC as a part of a complete system you’ll be able to use them as regular access points.
The statement is meant for people who want to build their own custom wireless solutions. And it doesn’t really apply to normal consumers (i.e people who buy a prebuilt device).
Nintendo has done it again. Just when you that it would be hard for the company to match xbox one and PS4 in the home console market or maintain its lead the portable gaming segment it comes out with a hybrid console. Who else could have thought of A single unified gaming platform that allows gamers to play on a wide screen in the TV mode. Take it with them on the road in the handheld mode . Or simply enjoy a quick local multiplayer match in the table top mode. Its three consoles in one.
Only Nintendo could have done it. And boy haven’t they. Breath of the wild came out at launch took the world by storm. Critically acclaimed, nearly universal positive press. Anyone who loves video games loved Breath of the wild. Nintendo followed it up by Super Mario odyssey another smash hit sitting at a total of 15 M in sales world wide. They have kept the hits like super smash brothers ultimate and Mario kart deluxe coming in on a regular basis. On switch the fun never seems to stop.
But we’re not here to talk about games on switch. As awesome as they are today we’ll be looking at Switch’s hardware. More specifically the wireless capabilities of the platform.
As I’ve said before [1] local wireless adhoc multiplayer games are all set to make a comeback. Therefore it becomes doubly important for console manufacturers to carefully design wireless capabilities of their products.
Nintendo switch goes the with Broadcom’s BCM4356 [2] networking chip with PCIe support. The chip was released in NOV 2014 [3]. Almost three years prior to Switch’s release date.
The system on chip module seems to have been manufactured by FOXCONN [3] . Here’s a review of the specifications and the features of the chip.
The device operates at 3.3 V optimally at temperatures between 0-70c
Supports both Bluetooth and wi-fi modules.
Is dual band works in both 2.4 ghz and 5ghz bands with a peak speed of 866.7 mbps [4]
Supports 256 QAM modulation. 20hz, 40hmz and 80 mhz wide channels . Protocols 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac are supported along with 2X2 MIMO.
The chip has a tiny 768KB SRAM and 640KB ROM
ARMCR4 processor included on board [5].
Boradcom’s chip is impressive in the range of features it provides with such limited resources. Although the low specifications may be the cause of frequent disconnection limitations on max number of adhoc players as well as local multiplayer lag.
To compare nintendo’s wifi hardware take look at Mediatek wifi chip MT7628K often found in entry level routers and note that the system comes with an embedded RAM of 8MB!
In today’s day and age 768 KB is nothing. Though it should be noted that the chip would probably have access to system memory via DMA. A dedicated wifi chip with enough ram and processing power would have certainly helped here.
To be fair to Switch the built in wifi chip is only used as a communication device for local adhoc multiplayer. It won’t be used as a router. Plus in handheld multiplayer mode you’d have multiple devices so its not like a single chip is doing all the processing.
Infact broadcom’s own product description justifies the specifications
This product family is used as client devices in smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes, digital televisions, PC products and other products requiring small size and low-power connectivity solutions.
The purpose of the wifi chip is to transmit and receive signals. In that respect the onboard wifi chip may indeed be sufficient for the wifi processing requirements of a single switch system. Successfully transmitting and receiving signals from upto 8 players at a time. I however do get a feeling that the under powered chip may be one of the reasons of frequent wifi complaints among the users.
Additionally in switch the chips are not being used simply for client connections. They also act as base stations in case of ad hoc multiplayer. In a wireless multiplayer game one player would start the multiplayer match by creating a lobby. His wifi mode would turn into a station. Other players would join the match as clients. In this case the player who started the game would have to do additional processing of keeping the connections of all the other players intact besides exchanging the multiplayer data. This is one area where switch could have been better.
Since Nintendo switch has lan support it might be possible to offload wifi processing to a third party router. For the games that support LAN multiplayer all devices could connect to a single access point that takes care of the communication while each switch device simply acts as a client. This would reduce the burden on wifi chip allowing for a better multiplayer experience. Any game that would work on a wired lan will also work on a wireless lan [7].
Despite these problems switch supports a long list of local multiplayer games [6]. The games are diverse enough appeal to all kinds of player. Where as super smash brothers and Mario Kart deluxe are competitive multiplayer games utilizing both tabletop and handheld mode wireless multiplayer. Monster hunter generations ultimate is a collaborative multiplayer game that works only in the handheld mode. In other words there’s no split screen.
Handheld mode only local multiplayer games require dedicated devices as well as game copies. To play monster hunter in multiplayer mode for example you’ll need separate switch consoles as well as copies of monster hunter game.
A key part of switch’s wireless architecture are the joy con controllers. Like Wiimote before it joy-con are wireless remote controls with built in motion sensing technology. In detached mode they communicate with the main unit via bluetooth.
All in all switch’s execution on wireless remote control and ad hoc play is exemplary. It out did its previous work on the WII mote. Which is high praise considering that wii mote was one of the most innovate controllers to come out that popularized motion sensing technology in console games as well as mobile phones.
Nintendo positions its games and consoles towards families . Games that everyone can enjoy. By integrating wireless multiplayer in the consoles it makes the package more appealing. After all a family that plays together stays together.
At workrock we help deliver the best wireless gaming experiences. Need someone to help you wireless gaming setup? Looking for custom built gaming routers? Want to organize a wireless LAN party?Email us on
Its not that we particularly enjoy reading a dry declaration on the FCC website. Just like you we prefer to be peacefully sleeping in our bed when the clock is ticking past 2 AM. Yes sir. Sleep is a wonderful thing.
But then just as the spirit becomes a bit sluggish, and just as the night starts to clear the stage for dawn, we remember our commitment to our readers, you, who have never failed to keep your promise of coming up with deep un-examined questions on the fundamentals wireless technology.
Questions that compel us to pore over pages of legal documents, hardware specifications and protocol definitions late into the night. We do this only to reciprocate the feeling of trust you have shown in us. Night and day we keep a close watch on wifi technologies to make sure we can answer all your queries and help you make the best possible decision.
Here we round up this week’s of discussion with members on quora that has us cross examine google’s new wifi router. Clear off few doubts on wifi calling and make a couple of recommendations on wireless headsets. Hope you find them useful. As always if you’ve got any questions of your own don’t hesitate to reach us using the contact details given below. Enjoy your Sunday.
Well since you’re specifically asking for a disadvantage it is lack of redundancy. With the wifi internet access point you’ll probably be using a fixed line. While in case of 4g hotspots you will have to depend entirely on wireless connections.
Its good to have different providers for backup in case something does go wrong. It probably won’t but what if it does? If for some reason your mobile connection is not working you’ll at-least have a fixed line broadband to fall back on to.
Secondly. When you use a wifi you’ll purchase a wireless router. If you choose a router well you can do way more than just access the internet. You can use it as a home media server. A backup storage for your photos/important documents. As a chat server for offline chatting. Wireless lan parties. You can play counterstike with your friends! Or stream videos to your phone offline.
Possibilities are endless. But to do that you’ll need to know how to flash it and how to administer a networked machine. In case you don’t you can always learn!
In short a router gives you way more options beyond simple connectivity. A 4g connection while it may have good speed is only limited to internet access.
Wifi calling is technically known as voice over wlan (vowlan or vo-wifi).
It is important to understand that wifi is no different from wired lan. Only it has no wires. In terms of OSI model a wifi network is still a physical layer.
Therefore vowlan is simply voice over IP. You can use any of the VOIP protocols to communicate over vowlan.
Even though the range of wifi is small it is very useful in internal communication and setting up networks in emergency situations. Within a building. In a hospital, school ,college , airports. Any device that is connected to the same network can be addressed.
Wifi is a cheap way to build your own local network. With vowlan you can use voice to communicate with connected devices. There is no special technology involved because wifi is still treated as a PHYSICAL network by the devices running applications. To them it’s no different than a LAN.
Google wifi is a dual band router that supports both 2.4ghz and 5ghz frequencies. Google wifi is based [1] on qualcomm’s IPQ4019 System On Chip [2]
IPQ4019 chip is a part of qualcomm’s Dakota family of self organizing network chips (SON) that enable the routers to manage their own wifi configuration. Among its many features [3] is the ability to select the best wifi channel and band for the connected device automatically [3] and it is this feature that is used in the google wifi product that automatically “places you on on the least congested channel.”
Other features include MU-MIMO [4] and Beamforming.
With that out of the way how much max speed can the device deliver?
Well qualcomm claims that it’s chip has a Peak speed of 1.733 Gbps so google wifi is essentially a gigabit wireless router.
In theory this might be possible because the chip uses a max bandwidth of 80 MHZ and it has 2 transmission and 2 receiving channels (See MIMO [4] )
To verify we can check mcs index table [5] and calculate the max possible speed and compare it with the advertised speed.
Lets see [6] …. 866.7 *2 which comes out to be 1733.4 mbps or 1.733 gbps. So the theoretical speed indeed checks out.
In reality however you may not hit that speed because you client devices (laptop and mobile phones) may not have MIMO support. Even then a speed of 866 mbps is fast.
So yes google wifi supports 5ghz and is gigabit fast. Thanks to qualcomm!
[6] 866.7 the max possible theoretical speed with a modulation [7] of 256 QAM, a 5/6 coding rateon a single antenna with 80 MHZ bandwidth. Multiplied by 2 because we have 2 antennas.
Thank you for A2A. When choosing be sure to select on these parameters
The playback time
The charging time
Bluetooth version supported (4 is the most widely supported while 5 is the latest version)
The max distance at which the device works without a hitch.
boAt seems to be the popular mid range wireless headphones provider in India at the moment. I’m not sure what your budget is Rockerz looks nice and it seems to be on discount
Thank you for A2A. One plus 7 pro is built on top of Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset [1]. So lets start with the good news. Here’s the WLAN specs of the chipset:-
As we can see the chip is “ax- ready”. But that is no reason to jump in joy because the actual support has to be configured by the vendor. One plus 7 uses wifi 6 compatible chip but it does not itself support it. Here are the WLAN specs of the phone[2]:-
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac. Multiple protocol support so that even if your router uses an older wifi protocol your phone will be able to access it. WIFI 802.11 ac is the current, most popular deployment in devices. It is also known as WIFI 5. Unfortunately as we can see there is no support for 802.11ax that means wifi 6 is not supported. But even on wifi 5 it has a 2×2 MIMO and a theoretical max speed 1.733 gbps. Not bad!
Dual-band. Dual band usually means that your wifi base station can work on multiple frequencies. So when your phone is in a hotspot mode it can transmit signals on both 5ghz and 2.4ghz band. While it is is client mode it can access signals on 2.4 ghz or 5ghz band. Please note that this is a hardware property. The actual support for switching between the bands has to be provided by the OS of the system.
WiFi Direct . Think of it as Bluetooth equivalent of wifi. Both the devices need to be wifi direct compatible in order for this to work. The functionality is usually built into the phone and you don’t need to download any external application,
Hotspot capabilities.
General thoughts on why wifi 5 is good enough for now and why you might not need wifi 6
FIrst of all it should be noted that 802.11 ac is capable of gigabit speeds. Even a single channel transmission on 160 MGHZ can reach 866.7 mbps. With MU-MIMO you can multiply this many times. The maximum being 6933.3 with 8 streams [3]. So wifi 5 is already pretty fast. Considering that to stream HD movies you merely need a speed of 25 mbps even a single stream wifi 5 radio will be more then enough for a normal consumer.
Whenever a new version of wireless protocol comes up it requires changes in both base station as well as client hardware. These changes take a long time to propagate in the design and manufacturing of devices.
Wifi 6 or 802.11ax was announced last year. It is expected to gain deployment support in devices by the end of 2019. However I believe that it would be a few more years before it becomes more common.
Even if you buy a WIFI 6 device it will not be of much use today because you have neither many clients (in case you use your mobile as a wifi 6 hotspot) nor many compatible base stations [4] (in case you want to connect your phone to a router) that can work with these protocols. Further as you use wifi for your internet access consider how much speed your ISP provides. Its more likely that you’ll exhaust your ISP bandwith than your WI-FI bandwidth.
To truly enjoy the wifi 6 experience you need to wait for the ecosystem to develop. In the mean time wifi 6 is good enough.
workrock 