Difference between Bluetooth, WiFi, and 802.11x

[latrosicarius]

Hey,

I was wondering if someone could esplane' to me the difference between Bluetooth, WiFi, and 802.11x protocols.

I have a laptop that has a Bluetooth icon in the system tray... does this mean that when it is connected to a wireless network (usually 802.11g), it is connected with Bluetooth? Or is that just for picking up any Bluetooth mice or something?

Also, I bought 2 versions of the Logitech MX Duo: one was just "wireless", and the other was "Bluetooth". Did the "wireless" one use "WiFi"? I'm very interested in these types of things.

Thanks,
Matt

[herulach]

Bluetooth is a short range cable replacement protocol, i.e, short range communications between a pc and peripherals, phone and handsfree etc.

WiFi is usually used to mean any of the 802.11x standards, which are designed for long range inter computer comms, basically to replace ethernet cables.

Stuff that is just wireless will use a propretary protocol for communication. Although confusingly enough they all run at the same frequency of 2.4Ghz.

Hope that helps

[latrosicarius]

Oh thanks... I didn't know that "WiFi" meant the 802.11x stuff.

My only other thought is: what's the difference between a "hotspot", a wireless router, and that city-wide broad-area wireless stuff that some citys say they are going to use?

[pak000]

a hot spot refers to somewhere that you can pick up a wireless network signal (types a/b/g, less commonly a)

a wireless router is what you would wirelessly connect to on a wireless network/hotspot

citywide wireless can use either lots of 802.11a/b/g access points to provide coverage, or they oculd use wimax, which is just coming out of development i believe

[latrosicarius]

Thanks,

I googled WiMAX and they said that it was 802.16 vs 802.11. I don't even know what 802.XX stands for, but does this mean that WiMAX won't be compatable with existing WiFi things?

[Steve B]

random...

[MadduckUK]

thats nice kumarg.

no WiMAX isnt compatable with existing stuff.

[Metier9]

802.11 is an IEEE standard... and i dont remember what IEEE stands for lol. They are a body which details standards with relevant experts in a field and then every company (if they want it to work properly) comply to it.

But with wireless freguencies, used in the G standard 2.412 or whatever you have to get the countries local body to agree to signal frequencies and assign channels, like EU has 13 channels and USA has 11 channels, they all reside in the 2.4 Ghz range, the same as a microwave.. but you wont get radioactive you know whats from it

o and b,g are for UK
and a, b, g are for USA in essence.

Different antennas and types, plus the transmit power dictates the signal strength.. other things effect the noise ratio etc...

[Steve B]

this thread hasn't been updated in over a year...

[MadduckUK]

oh yeah. i missed that... he's just spamming then i guess

[Metier9]

son of a lol

i keep replying to old threads that someone brings up from the dead.... mehhh "wo da si ni"