It is getting on to darn near 30 years since humans were ‘untethered’ when it came to being able to access the Internet. Now being able to be entirely unconnected to anything is the norm when it comes to web-browsing devices of any type, and there are even plenty of desktop computer that would laugh at the idea of an Ethernet cable. Wi Fi has been the way, and when Wi-Fi 6 came around a few years back it was definitely a big deal.
But what we’re on the verge of here may be the biggest deal with Internet connectivity to come along since the information superhighway was first paved. We’re talking about light-based communication, and the advantages of Wi Fi are about to be undone in a big way by Li-Fi, an emerging wireless technology that relies of infrared light instead of radio waves. To go down every avenue with all the potential advantages for this and how it’s stealing the thunder of Wi-Fi 7 would require a whole lot of typing, but let’s start with the one that everyone will like to hear – speed.
They may be fewer and more far between, but some people still do have latency concerns based on what it is they are doing online and whatever hardware they’re doing it with. You want wildly faster internet speeds? Li-Fi is going to be a godsend for you then as the estimates right now are that Li-Fi could offer speeds 100XS faster than what the current Wi-Fi networks are able to provide.
No need for any explanation as to why this is going to be noteworthy stuff for any good Canadian web hosting provider, and that’s going to be the case for us here at 4GoodHosting too. So we’re taking this week’s entry to give you a brief overview into Li-Fi, because it may be that Wi-Fi is about to become archaic technology fast.
Utilize Light
Wi-Fi has made connecting to the internet wirelessly possible by using radio waves, but now it appears there’s a better way. Li-Fi was recently given its own standard - IEEE 802.11bb — and when you see it you’ll know your connection is being created with the power of light to give you connectivity. Although technically Li-Fi belonging to the same family of standards Wi-Fi lives in, it is very different.
Li-Fi uses light as its source of electromagnetic radiation instead. What is of note here with this is the way LED lights work by turning on and off many times a second by them to save energy, and Li-Fi spectrum does the same but turning off and in a way that is able to communicate with a receiver to interpret and transfer data with. It works with visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light and so there’s not going to necessarily be a need to have light physically in the room either.
And less light bouncing off walls and more being confined to individual rooms means there is less interference and higher bandwidth, and traffic is harder to intercept from outside. Another big advantage is that Li-Fi antennas are small enough to be integrated into smartphone frames, and have them functioning in a way that is similar to IR blasters
Addition To, Not Wi-Fi Replacement
The concept behind Li-Fi is pretty simple and has been around for some time, but with several developments to it adoption and challenges along the way, with the lack of an official standard being among them but now with the IEEE 802.11bb standard in place. It’s good to understand as well that Li-Fi isn't intended as a Wi-Fi replacement, but rather an option that can be utilized when a Wi-Fi network connection is a weaker alternative or is more simply not an option at all.
There should be no shortage of those instances too, and they consider as well as places where Wi-Fi's radio waves can interfere with everything from hospitals to airplanes to operations in and around military bases. Li-Fi will also be able to co-exist with your home Wi-Fi networks, and having devices be seamlessly able to switch between networks automatically based on needs and resources available is going to be a real plus.
One example might be having your phone stay connected to Wi-Fi while it's in your pocket but then jump over and onto faster and more interference-free Li-Fi when it moves into your hand and is exposed to light. One thing is for sure, the idea of light-based internet is definitely exciting and especially if means super-fast network speeds and in many cases leaving Wi-Fi for more IoT purposes and the like.
