Prepaid WiFi As A Broadband Option!

Before we talk about prepaid WiFi, let's go through what exactly is it!  WiFi is a wireless technology that is found in virtually every modern computer, usually used to connect wirelessly to the Internet.  It's also now commonplace to find it in a slew of other electronic devices like printers, gaming consoles, smartphones, televisions, media players, external harddrives, and sometimes even kitchen appliances.  These WiFi-enabled devices are often referred to as "connected devices," meaning that they can be connected to other standalone devices, or to the Internet.


In the case of a WiFi enabled printer, it allows you to print wirelessly from anywhere in the general vicinity (i.e. in your home or office).  Indoors, you'll usually be able to connect to it within 32m or 120 feet (this is the general standard).  My printer has this feature, and I'm able to print when I'm downstairs in the family room to the printer upstairs in the office in the opposite corner of the house.  I find this to be tremendously convenient, and it reduces the number of cords and wires as well!  With a WiFi media player, you can download movies and stream them directly to your TV without the need for wires or memory cards.  It really is an amazing technology that opens up worlds of possibilities.  


One important aspect to keep in mind is that WiFi in and of itself is not the Internet.  It's basically a wireless protocol, which is a fancy term for an industry accepted (and regulated) standard.  It  allows you to connect, or network, two or more devices together.  So, if you have an Internet connection with your cable or home phone provider, you can buy a wireless router that uses the WiFi standard, and if your computer has a WiFi network card, you'll be able to connect your computer to the router and thereby connect to the Internet!  In the case of the wireless printer example, the printer is not connected to the Internet, so the wireless connection you're making is simply to allow your computer to communicate with your printer to avoid the need to use a cable.  Of course, most modern connected printers are connected to the Internet to download calendars, kids activities/coloring pages, documents from your cloud folders, etc.


What Does Wi-Fi Stand For?
You'll often read that it stands for "Wireless Fidelity," however, that's actually not the case.  It's actually said to be a play on words to mirror the commonly used term "Hi-Fi," and is simply a more consumer friendly term referring to the wireless networking IEEE 802.11 technology.  There are a number of version of this standard that you may have heard of, including 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n, etc.  Generally speaking, these represent different speeds and security standards.  Newer versions are virtually always backwards compatible, which means that if you buy an 802.11.g router, it will still work with your older computer than may only have the 802.11b standard.  The same logic applies to prepaid WiFi, as prepaid is simply a payment option.  In other words, anything you learn about WiFi can be applied to the concept of no contract, prepaid WiFi plans.  Here we're talking specifically about the technology itself.  Click over to the next page to continue reading, or hop over to the Wi-Fi Offloading section to learn about how this technology has become a key to mobile data performance for smarpthones!

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