What does Wi-Fi mean and what is the purpose of it?

Wi-Fi, English full name: wirelessfidelity, wireless fidelity Technology, like Bluetooth technology, belongs to the short distance wireless technology used in office and home. The technology used to make 2.4GHz near the band, the band is currently not a licensed wireless band. There are currently two standards available, namely ieee802.11a and ieee802.11b. The technology has its own advantages, so it is favored by manufacturers.

The outstanding advantages of Wi-Fi technology are:

First, radio waves cover a wide range of Bluetooth technology based radio coverage is very small, the radius is only about 50 feet, about 15 meters, and Wi-Fi radius of up to 300 feet, about 100 meters, the office from needless to say, is in the whole building can also be used. Recently, a new type of switch was introduced by Vivato company. It is reported that the product can be the current Wi-Fi wireless network 300 feet, nearly 100 meters of communication distance extended to 4 miles, about 6.5 km.

Second, although by Wi-Fi technology transmission of wireless communication quality is not very good, data security performance than Bluetooth some, transmission quality is still to be improved, but the transmission speed is very fast, can reach 11mbps, in line with the needs of personal and social information.

Third, the manufacturers enter the field of the threshold is relatively low. Manufacturers as long as the airport, stations, cafes, libraries, such as more densely populated places "hot spots", and through high-speed lines to the Internet access to the above places. In this way, because the "hot spot" emitted by the radio wave can reach the radius of dozens of meters to 100 meters away from the access point, users will support wireless LAN laptop or PDA to the region, you can access the Internet high-speed. In other words, manufacturers do not have to spend money to access the network cabling, thereby saving a lot of costs.

Wi-Fi feature application areas:

Since WiFi frequencies are not required for any telecommunications operating license worldwide, WLAN wireless devices provide a wireless air interface that can be used worldwide with extremely low cost and high data bandwidth. Users can quickly browse the Web in the WiFi-covered area and receive calls anytime, anywhere. Other WLAN-based broadband data applications, such as streaming media, online games and other functions are worth the user's expectation. With WiFi we make long-distance calls (including international calls), browse the Web, send and receive emails, download music, digital photos, and so on, without worrying about the slow speed and high cost.

WiFi is more widely used on handheld devices, and smartphones are one of them. 　　Unlike the earlier Bluetooth technology used on mobile phones, WiFi has a greater coverage and higher transmission rate, so WiFi phones have become a fashion trend in the current mobile communications industry. WiFi coverage is now becoming more widespread in China, with WiFi connections in areas such as premium hotels, luxury residential areas, airports and cafes. When we travel and work, we can surf the Internet in these places using our handheld devices.

It sounds another cliché: After a new technology is invented, it will always be wildly sought after by tech enthusiasts. They are scrambling to set up factories, hoping to bring new products into the market and create miracles. As for profit, the sensible business model is always left behind. Then the story begins to evolve in a fixed plot: market demand is not as strong as expected, a stampede of companies collapses, leaving only a few survivors. During the Internet frenzy, the story has been played out, and now it seems like it's going to start again, just this time, a smaller scale. The protagonist of the story is Wi-Fi technology-a popular wireless network technology.

Wi-Fi technology is mainly used in home, school or office space. If you have a laptop with Wi-Fi enabled, you can connect to a fixed interface, connect to other computers, or surf the Internet within 50 meters. Only last year, 15 million Wi-Fi adapters and 4.4 million interface devices were sold worldwide, according to data from a US research firm. Under the impact of individual users ' enthusiasm for Wi-Fi, many companies have started to set up public "hotspots" in airports, hotels, shops and restaurants to charge Wi-Fi access.

While private Wi-Fi access exceeds the public interface, the so-called "hot spot", the number of public "hot spots" is increasing at a rapid pace. It is estimated that this year will reach 70,000. Large groups in the US, Europe and Asia have unveiled their ambitions in Wi-Fi – although there is no evidence that there is a huge demand for the technology. Private investment agencies are also starting to throw a lot of money at Wi-Fi. According to an investment bank based in San Francisco, private investment institutions have invested more than 1.5 billion dollars in the field since 2000. In a word, it seems to be a bubble again. As a recent report on Wi-Fi wrote: "People are so crazy about Wi-Fi as if they hadn't experienced the dotcom bust." ”

Perhaps the most famous Wi-Fi service in the United States is a "hot" network of more than 2000 Starbucks cafes run by T-mobile Mobile communications, with 25000 people surfing the internet every week, averaging a "hot spot" that is used by fewer than two people a day. And to keep these "hot spots" on the Internet, operators will spend hundreds of of dollars a month. The Schiaberelli airport in Amsterdam, Holland, has Wi-Fi equipment that is used by only more than 10 people a day. However, its operators still believe that as long as a number of "hot spots", the use of equipment will be greatly increased. They follow the logic of the Internet frenzy "as long as it is built, people will come." ”

Perhaps the high price is the reason for the consumer to stagnate. It is after a new round of price cuts, through the T-mobile Company's "hot" Internet access per hour still cost 6 of dollars. One months 40 dollars, 360 dollars a year. Other U.S. carriers also charge 40-70 dollars a month. In Europe, fees are up to € 130 a month. A survey agency found that Wi-Fi users are very sensitive to prices. Only 3% of the tech-savvy enthusiasts surveyed said they could accept the 2-dollar price per hour, and 30% said they could accept a price of 1 dollars per hour.

Besides the price, the problem still exists. There are so many Wi-Fi operators. Customers who become an operator are not able to share the resources of other carriers. This means that you have to apply for a wireless internet operator at the airport, and if you want to be at a Starbucks café, you have to pay for other carriers.

One of the most fundamental problems with public Wi-Fi services is that their target consumer groups-those who walk around with laptops and need to grab every minute of the time to surf the web-are really few. Unless Wi-Fi functionality can be integrated into a mobile phone as small as a communication tool, can be used anywhere at any time, otherwise, the likelihood of attracting large numbers of consumers is very small.

Some experts have suggested that, in this case, Wi-Fi investors should take a good look at the "hot spots" they have set up to be effective and profitable. He suggested that the focus should be on business users. The service for ordinary consumers, at present, does not have much significance. Because, for ordinary consumers, in cafes, cinemas, shopping malls and other wireless internet, it is not cost-effective. For hotels, conference centers, airports and other owners, the establishment of a number of wireless Internet interface is still meaningful. They can not operate these access equipment on their own, but ask professional firms to operate. Alternatively, they can use this as a free service to attract customers.

For many of the production of Wi-Fi chip emerging companies, the situation is also not optimistic. Only a handful of lucky ones can survive and be bought by big producers like Cisco, but most will fail. While sales of Wi-Fi devices are still increasing, prices have fallen sharply and margins are slim. Wi-Fi will remain a popular trend for years to come, but, as with the Internet, investors should not expect to get too much out of them.