How-to · Step-by-step
How does Wi-Fi work?
Wi-Fi connects devices to a network wirelessly by sending data as radio waves between your device and a router, which is in turn wired to the internet.
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Step by step
How to do it
1.Your device encodes the data
When you load a web page, your phone or laptop converts the digital request into a radio signal using its built-in Wi-Fi adapter, encoding the ones and zeros as patterns in a radio wave.
2.The signal travels to the router
The Wi-Fi radio broadcasts the signal through the air to your wireless router, usually over a range of a few metres to tens of metres, on the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band.
3.The router decodes the signal
The router receives the radio waves and converts them back into digital data, identifying which device sent the request and what it is asking for.
4.The router connects to the internet
The router is wired — typically by a fibre or cable connection — to your internet service provider, so it forwards your request out onto the wider internet.
5.The response returns to the router
The requested data comes back from the internet to your router, which converts it into a radio signal addressed to your specific device.
6.Your device reassembles the data
Your device’s Wi-Fi adapter receives the radio waves, turns them back into digital data, and displays the web page, video or message you asked for.
Data carried on radio waves
Wi-Fi is simply a way of carrying digital data — the ones and zeros that make up web pages, video and messages — on radio waves instead of through a cable. Your phone or laptop and your router each contain a small radio that can both transmit and receive. Wi-Fi typically uses two frequency bands, around 2.4 gigahertz and 5 gigahertz: the lower band travels further and through walls more easily, while the higher band is faster but shorter-range. These are the same family of electromagnetic waves as light, just at much lower frequencies, and they are invisible and harmless at the low power levels Wi-Fi uses.
Common questions
FAQ
Is Wi-Fi the same as the internet?+
No. Wi-Fi is just the wireless link between your device and your router over short-range radio waves. The internet is the global network your router connects to. You can have Wi-Fi with no internet (if the broadband line is down) and internet with no Wi-Fi (over a cable), so they are separate things that work together.
Why does Wi-Fi get weaker through walls?+
Radio waves lose strength as they pass through solid materials, and thick walls, metal and water absorb or reflect them. The 2.4 GHz band penetrates walls better than the faster 5 GHz band, which is why range and speed often trade off. Distance from the router also steadily weakens the signal.
Are Wi-Fi radio waves dangerous?+
Wi-Fi uses low-power radio waves in the same broad family as light and radio broadcasts. They are non-ionising, meaning they do not carry enough energy to damage DNA, and the power levels are very low. Public-health bodies have found no established harm from normal Wi-Fi exposure.
Going deeper
