Rural Wireless Broadband Internet – How Does It Work And How Can I Get It?
What is wireless and how does it work? Wireless can be described as data transfer between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be as short or as long as a few meters as the remote control of a television, from thousands to millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communication.
Perhaps the best example of wireless technology is cell phones. The world’s first wireless telephone conversation took place in 1880 when Alexander Graham Bell and Charles Sumner invented and patented the Tainter photophone, a telephone that conducts audio conversations via controlled light beams (electromagnetic waves). Then in 1915 American Telephone and Telegraph thought of making a wireless phone but they feared that this great technology would undermine its monopoly power over wired services in the United States. They were right. After more than 5 years, this remarkable little irrational device has revolutionized the telephone industry, offering wired phone carriers free long distance, free nights and weekends, free music offers and the ability to place mobile phones virtually anywhere.
Common everyday wireless devices include garage door openers, cordless phones, binocular radios, satellite television, satellite internet, GPS, and Wi-Fi.
As personal computers became popular in the early 1970s, the idea of a portable personal computer came to mind. In 1981, Adam Osborne built the first personal portable computer (now known as a laptop) Osborne 1. It weighed 24 pounds, had a 5-inch screen, and was 17 1795 ($ 4,552 today). The demand for laptops is skyrocketing. Consumers wanted portability. When the Internet boom hit in the 1’s, the idea of connecting to the Internet with a wireless portable laptop came up. Unlike a hard-lined personal desktop computer internet connection, it will be wireless and will require a quick connection. In 1999, the word Wi-Fi and its Yin-Yang style logo were coined by the Wi-Fi Alliance as an interesting word for IEEE 802.11. Today, more than 700 million people worldwide use Wi-Fi, and there are more than 4 million hotspots.
How does it work? If you’ve recently been to an airport, coffee shop, library, or hotel, you’ve probably been in the middle of a wireless network. A wireless network uses radio waves, such as cell phones, televisions, and radios. In fact, communication across a wireless network is much like two-way radio communication.
Here’s what happened:
Your laptop computer translates the data to a radio signal and transmits it using an internal antenna.
A wireless router receives and decodes the signal. The router sends data over the Internet using a physical, wired Ethernet connection.
Do you remember the first time you cycled without hands? “Look mom! No hands!” Ahhh .. free like a bird. Good old days, isn’t it? Computer users may relate to the same experience the first time and every time they use wireless. Sitting in that same “sticky” position on that same home desktop computer just to find your spine grid in the same place. Did you know that the sitting position is the worst position for your back and puts the most pressure on your spine? Inflammation of the back pain is not burning due to standing in that old – hard wooden chair with legs that have lived much longer than his lifespan. It has been made easy to get from one place to another without having to worry about tripping over the cable. Relax and lie down on the sofa and watch TV while browsing the internet with your laptop, browsing news headlines or checking emails.
Wireless or Wi-Fi enables Internet users to roam freely on their home, business or other wireless network (about 150 feet inside and 300 feet outside) with one or more computers.