How does a wireless modem work? This is the question we will be giving answers to in this article. But hey! before we get to that part, we would like to explain first what a wireless modem is. This will make for a better understanding of what we are about to say later.
What Does Wireless Modem Mean?
A wireless modem is a modem that connects directly to a wireless network bypassing the telephone system. By connecting directly to the wireless network, it can directly access the Internet connectivity provided by an Internet service provider (ISP).
Wireless modems can be pre-built into smartphones, mobile phones and even personal data assistants (PDAs). Alternatively, they can be distributed in the form of USB, serial or wireless firewall modems. Other types of wireless modems range from the size of a cable modem to the size of a credit card or even smaller.
Types of Modem Routers and How They Work
Hardware Modems
Examples of hardware modems are external modems you can connect to your computer via a cable or PCMCIA socket. The modem functions are carried out entirely by chips and other electronic components in hardware.
Dialup modems
The most familiar hardware modems are probably Dialup modems even though very few people use them these days. A dial-up connection to an ISP makes use of circuit switching, much like an ordinary phone call. However, if you are using broadband to get a faster connection, you’ll be using your phone line in an entirely different way. You’ll be using a data-handling technique known as “packet switching” and you’ll need an entirely different kind of modem. If you decide to use broadband (packet switching) on a cellphone network, you’ll need yet another kind of modem called the HSDPA modem.
If you link to the internet without using a telephone line, either by using a wired ethernet connection or Wi-Fi, you won’t need a modem at all. Your computer sends as well as receives all its data to and from the network in digital form. As such, there’s no need to switch back and forth between analog and digital with a modem. Another handy feature of the dialup modem is that they can communicate with fax machines at high speed. As such, they are sometimes referred to as fax modems. Thus, if you have fax software on your computer, you can use your modem to fax out word-processed documents and receive incoming faxes.
Cable models
Cable modems are crafted to provide broadband internet over cable TV connections rather than the telephone network. Before fiber-optic broadband was introduced, cable was generally the fastest medium of getting online. A cable modem comes in handy for your home and office. Also, there’s a piece of kit at your service provider’s premises that manages all the outgoing and incoming connections. The two are connected by a coaxial cable or a combination of coaxial and fiber-optic cabling called HFC (hybrid fiber-coaxial).
Cable modems are faster than traditional broadband telephone modems. Their speed, does not degrade as you get further from the phone exchange. Be it as it may, many customers share the same bandwidth and are less secure.. They are also more susceptible to power outages and tie you to a single provider.
Software Modems
Just as the name implies, software modems do virtually all of their modem jobs using the software. This makes them low-cost compact, and easy to upgrade. As such, they are easy to upgrade and are a particularly popular choice in things like laptop and netbook computers where space is at a premium. Software modems rely on the host computer’s processor to complete most of its functions. This implies that they slow a computer down more than an external hardware modem with its own built-in processor and dedicated chips.
Now that we have known what a modem is and the types, let’s see what benefits it offers.
Benefits of a Wireless Modem
So what are the benefits of a wireless modem?
- With a wireless modem the internet connection is always on. It also supplies a very fast internet connection.
- A wireless modem offers a secure network and the flexibility and convenience of a wireless internet connection.
- Subscribers can surf the internet at higher speeds up to 100 times more rapidly than using the traditional analog modem.
- With wireless modems, subscribers can move about in their homes or offices with their laptops and not get tied to a desktop computer only.
- A subscriber can even take his or her laptop into the backyard as far as up about 1300 feet. Subscribers can even surf the internet while enjoying the outdoors with wireless modems.
- Laptop owners with wireless capability, also have access to tap into a wireless setup at locations like hotels and coffee shops.