What is the Difference Between WiFi & Wireless Internet?
WiFi is a license exempt wireless standard that is used both indoors in the case of a wireless access point as well as an outdoor connectivity technology by some WISPs or Wireless Internet Service Providers, as they like to be called. WiFi is regulated as an extremely low power wireless application but with the correct antennas usable links have been established at 150 miles while still staying within the FCC power limits.
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License Exempt Wireless History
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In 1985 the FCC first allowed the use of wireless communications technology in what is known as the ISM (Industry/Science/Medical) bands. Previously, these bands had been used for all kinds of wireless devices but communication in these bands was strictly forbidden. The three bands that were opened up for this purpose are 902-928 MHz, which is used by cordless phones among other devices, 2.4-2.4835 GHz, which is the most common WiFi band and 5.725-5.850 GHz also referred to as the UNII band. In the early 1990s the first wireless LAN equipment, designed for indoor use, was introduced in the market and by the mid-1990s there were several manufacturers providing products that used these unlicensed bands. It should be noted that at this time all of the wireless equipment was proprietary and there was no interoperability between manufacturers.
Indoor Goes Outdoors
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Somewhere in the early 1990s hobbyists began experimenting with this indoor wireless networking gear to see exactly how far they could push its range. One of the more famous projects built during that time period was LATNET, a citywide wireless data project that covered a fair portion of Riga, Latvia. Latvia suffered from a near non-existent telecommunications infrastructure and didn't have the money to build one but with a lot of ingenuity and some indoor wireless networking gear a complete high speed data network was built.
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HomeRF
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The HomeRF Alliance was created in 1996 by Intel, Microsoft, and Proxim among others. This was the first attempt by the industry to standardize this type of wireless equipment.
Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance
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In 1999 what known as the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance which was later renamed to the WiFi Alliance was formed and established a competing wireless standard to the HomeRF proposed standard. After a long battle the FCC sided with the WiFi standard effectively ending the HomeRF project.
Consumer WiFi
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The typical off-the-shelf wireless access point found in an office or home environment is usually well below the maximum output power allowed. In a clear environment, one having no walls or other obstructions, a WiFi access point will have a range of 1,000 feet or so. While it is possible to use this same access point with a higher gain antenna or with an amplifier to extend the range most consumer access points will not allow a connection to occur past a half mile or so.
Wireless Internet
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While there are several WiFi based WISPs many have moved past this wireless to proprietary technology for reasons of security as well as the features that proprietary wireless provides. Still, WiFi is still used for hot spots as well as what is know as last mile technology due to its prevalence and installed base. The MuniWiFi industry pushed for mesh-based wireless infrastructure that allowed for WiFi equipped devices to connect anywhere the WiFi cloud extended. There are several success stories with the most notable one being in Minneapolis. When the bridge collapse occurred there the Minneapolis first responders found the WiFi network to be invaluable and credited the network with making their jobs a lot easier.
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