What Is a Wireless Network?
Open the Wi-Fi list on a phone, laptop, or TV and you may see several names. Your home network might be there alongside a neighbor’s network, a guest network, or a public one nearby. Each name represents a wireless network the device can detect.
A wireless network lets devices connect and communicate without a cable running between each device and the network. Instead, information travels through the air using radio signals. Wi-Fi is the version of wireless networking most people encounter every day.
A phone connected to home Wi-Fi reaches the same kind of network a computer can reach through an Ethernet cable. The difference is that the phone’s connection travels through the air instead of through a wire.
Connected to Wi-Fi Doesn’t Always Mean Connected to the Internet
Wireless networks and internet access often seem like the same thing because they usually work together. Connect a laptop to Wi-Fi at home, and it can probably open websites, stream video, and use online apps.
But those are actually two connections.
The laptop first connects wirelessly to the local network, usually through a router or wireless access point. That network may then have its own connection to the internet.
A phone or computer can be connected to Wi-Fi while also showing that there is no internet access. Its wireless connection to the network can be working perfectly well even when that network cannot reach the internet.
Devices on the same local network may also be able to communicate with one another without going out to the internet. A laptop sending something to a wireless printer is one familiar example. Both devices can be part of the same network, so the information does not necessarily need to travel through an internet connection first.
Only Part of the Connection Has to Be Wireless
The word wireless describes the part of the connection that does not require a cable.
At home, a phone might send information through the air to a Wi-Fi router. From there, that information can travel through cables, fiber, or other equipment on its way to its destination. The phone only needs a wireless connection to the router to be part of a wireless network.
This is also why plugging one computer into a router does not make the Wi-Fi network disappear. A single network can include devices connected by Wi-Fi and devices connected by cable at the same time.
Wi-Fi Is the Wireless Network You See Most Often
Wireless networking is broader than Wi-Fi. Cellular networks and other technologies can also connect devices wirelessly.
But Wi-Fi is the version most people encounter when they see the term wireless network at home, work, school, hotels, and other familiar places.