Wi-Fi

A type of network that makes use of radio channels to connect either to a local area network (LAN) or a router linked to the Internet.

Companies often have a Wi-Fi system installed inside their buildings. Then visitors and workers with laptops can instantly connect to their LAN.

There are also publicly available Wi-Fi links to the Internet. These are called 'Hot-Spots' and may be found in airports, train stations and some cafes.

Wi-Fi does include built-in methods of making a network secure, for example turning on WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) or WEP will only allow authorised users to connect but many people do not bother to switch these methods on, with the result that anyone nearby can connect and access their network.

Wi-Fi is has not replaced hard-wired networks because of two limitations

1. They are nowhere near as fast as standard networks, around half the speed (at best).

2. There are only a limited amount of channels that can be used at any one time within a Wi-Fi network.

2020-10