🦉 Demystified...How Does Wi-Fi Work?

Wi-Fi has become an integral part of our fast-paced everyday lives. Thanks to Wi-Fi, we no longer have to be tethered to the Internet with cables. But have you ever stopped to wonder how it works?

Wi-Fi uses radio waves to transmit information between your device and a router via frequencies. Two radio-wave frequencies can be used, depending on the amount of data being sent: 2.4 gigahertz and 5 gigahertz. What does that mean, though? Well, a hertz is just a measurement of frequency. For example, let’s say you’re sitting on a beach, watching the waves crash to shore. If you measured the time between each wave crash, you’d be measuring the frequency of the waves. One hertz is a frequency of one wave per second. One gigahertz, on the other hand, is one billion waves per second. (Thank goodness beaches aren’t like that—it probably wouldn’t be too relaxing.) The higher the frequency, the greater the amount of data transmitted per second. 

The two Wi-Fi frequencies are split into multiple channels so as to prevent high traffic and interference. When it comes to sharing the data across these channels, well, that’s when the magic—er, computer science—happens. The first step in the process is initiated by you (the user). When you access the Internet on your device, it converts the information you’ve requested into binary code, the language of computers. Everything computers do is based in binary code, a series of 1s and 0s. When you click on this article, your request is translated into a bunch of 1s and 0s. If you’re using Wi-Fi, these 1s and 0s are translated into wave frequencies by the Wi-Fi chip embedded in your device. The frequencies travel across the radio channels mentioned earlier and are received by the Wi-Fi router that your device is connected to. The router then converts the frequencies back into the binary code and translates the code into the Internet traffic that you requested, and the router receives that data through a hardwired Internet cable. The process repeats itself until you have loaded this article—or anything that requires the Internet. All of this happens at an unbelievably fast rate; most routers operate at 54 Mbps (megabits per second), meaning that when such routers translate and transmit binary data, 54 million 1s and 0s are taken in or sent out in a single second.  ~