The Computer Guy: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, 4G – What’s the Deal?

  “What’s the difference between WiFi and Bluetooth?” This question also gets asked with variations for “wireless” and “cordless”, or “3G” and “4G”.   All these terms are names for different technical standards for some type of wireless communication.  The difference, from our consumer point of view, is mainly about what kinds of devices are doing the communication.   One thing they have in common is that they all use radio waves to do the communicating. These are not wires that carry power for lighting a light or charging a phone – though that’s coming.   3G, 4G, & “wireless” are all names given to versions of the mobile telephone and smartphone systems. You can also think “cellphones” or “mobile”.  Technically, the “cell”, “mobile” and “wireless” parts are usually about the voice calls, where “3G” and “4G” are about the smartphone data side of it, but these are, generally, all about telephones.   WiFi is the radio version of Ethernet – the kind of networking that is used in your office or home to connect your “network printer” to your computers, and your computers to the Internet.   WiFi is also used to provide public access to the internet at […]