Misplaced Pages

#27972

55-526: In addition to 4G service, the ThunderBolt is the first Verizon phone to support simultaneous voice/data over 3G without the help of Wi-Fi . The phone was launched January 17, 2011. Best Buy was the first retailer to offer a pre-order on February 6, 2011. Wirefly and Amazon both allowed pre-orders a few days before the device was officially launched. This launch date, however, was much later than anticipated by consumers, frustrating many potential buyers. There

110-450: A captive portal webpage for access. Organizations, enthusiasts, authorities and businesses , such as airports, hotels, and restaurants, often provide free or paid-use hotspots to attract customers, to provide services to promote business in selected areas. Routers often incorporate a digital subscriber line modem or a cable modem and a Wi-Fi access point, are frequently set up in homes and other buildings, to provide Internet access for

165-528: A working group of the LMSC devoted to each. However, not all of these working groups are currently active. The IEEE 802 standards are restricted to computer networks carrying variable-size packets, unlike cell relay networks, for example, in which data is transmitted in short, uniformly sized units called cells. Isochronous signal networks, in which data is transmitted as a steady stream of octets , or groups of octets, at regular time intervals, are also outside

220-456: A channel at a time. Wi-Fi's radio bands work best for line-of-sight use. Many common obstructions, such as walls, pillars, home appliances, etc., may greatly reduce range, but this also helps minimize interference between different networks in crowded environments. The range of an access point is about 20 m (66 ft) indoors, while some access points claim up to a 150 m (490 ft) range outdoors. Hotspot coverage can be as small as

275-447: A city-wide campaign to convert old phone booths into digital kiosks in 2014. The project, titled LinkNYC , has created a network of kiosks that serve as public Wi-Fi hotspots, high-definition screens and landlines . Installation of the screens began in late 2015. The city government plans to implement more than seven thousand kiosks over time, eventually making LinkNYC the largest and fastest public, government-operated Wi-Fi network in

330-456: A common Wi-Fi version. The versions differ between the radio wavebands they operate on, the radio bandwidth they occupy, the maximum data rates they can support and other details. Some versions permit the use of multiple antennas, which permits greater speeds as well as reduced interference. Historically, the equipment listed the versions of Wi-Fi supported using the name of the IEEE standards. In 2018,

385-407: A computer and an interface controller is called a station . Stations are identified by one or more MAC addresses . Wi-Fi nodes often operate in infrastructure mode in which all communications go through a base station. Ad hoc mode refers to devices communicating directly with each other, without communicating with an access point. A service set is the set of all the devices associated with

440-434: A dual-LED flash, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. The phone has 768 MB of RAM and 8 GB of eMMC of internal flash memory data storage ( available to user apps & user app data). An external microSDHC card slot supports up to 32 GB more storage memory, which comes preinstalled. The ThunderBolt also comes with a kickstand that works in landscape and portrait positions for photo or video viewing. A LED notification light

495-604: A graph of data usage for the time period that the user had previously set. The feature would also keep track of the user's data usage, and would alert the user when they were close to their data limit, which the user would have previously set. Wi-Fi Wi-Fi ( / ˈ w aɪ f aɪ / ) is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves . These are

550-641: A greater degree by common building materials than the 2.4 GHz bands and usually give a shorter range. As 802.11 specifications evolved to support higher throughput, the protocols have become much more efficient in their bandwidth use. Additionally, they have gained the ability to aggregate channels together to gain still more throughput where the bandwidth for additional channels is available. 802.11n allows for double radio spectrum bandwidth (40 MHz) per channel compared to 802.11a or 802.11g (20 MHz). 802.11n can be set to limit itself to 20 MHz bandwidth to prevent interference in dense communities. In

605-541: A much delayed and troubled rollout of an update to the Android Gingerbread platform. The ThunderBolt has a second generation 1GHz Snapdragon processor manufactured by Qualcomm , and runs on Verizon's 4G LTE Network. It has a 4.3-inch class (480×800) WVGA TFT capacitive touchscreen covered by Gorilla Glass , a special crack and scratch resistant material made by Corning . Two cameras are included; an 8- megapixel rear-facing camera, able to record 720p video, with

SECTION 10

#1733093998028

660-426: A particular Wi-Fi network. Devices in a service set need not be on the same wavebands or channels. A service set can be local, independent, extended, mesh, or a combination. Each service set has an associated identifier, a 32-byte service set identifier (SSID), which identifies the network. The SSID is configured within the devices that are part of the network. A basic service set (BSS) is a group of stations that share

715-410: A single carrier, whereas 802.11a, Wi-Fi 4, 5 and 6 use orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing . Channels are used half duplex and can be time-shared by multiple networks. Any packet sent by one computer is locally received by stations tuned to that channel, even if that information is intended for just one destination. Stations typically ignore information not addressed to them. The use of

770-458: A single room with walls that block radio waves or as large as many square kilometers using many overlapping access points with roaming permitted between them. Over time, the speed and spectral efficiency of Wi-Fi have increased. As of 2019, some versions of Wi-Fi, running on suitable hardware at close range, can achieve speeds of 9.6 Gbit/s ( gigabit per second). A 1985 ruling by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission released parts of

825-671: A wider channel for higher throughput. Countries apply their own regulations to the allowable channels, allowed users and maximum power levels within these frequency ranges. 802.11b/g/n can use the 2.4 GHz band, operating in the United States under FCC Part 15 rules and regulations. In this frequency band, equipment may occasionally suffer interference from microwave ovens, cordless telephones , USB 3.0 hubs, Bluetooth and other devices. Spectrum assignments and operational limitations are not consistent worldwide: Australia and Europe allow for an additional two channels (12, 13) beyond

880-432: Is divided into a multitude of channels . In the standards, channels are numbered at 5 MHz spacing within a band (except in the 60 GHz band, where they are 2.16 GHz apart), and the number refers to the centre frequency of the channel. Although channels are numbered at 5 MHz spacing, transmitters generally occupy at least 20 MHz, and standards allow for neighbouring channels to be bonded together to form

935-544: Is located near the earpiece. The ThunderBolt shipped with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and it was later updated in September 2011 to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). In early February 2013, the ThunderBolt was updated to Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and Sense 3.6. The 4.0.4 update brought many new features to the Thunderbolt, including new camera filters and features, the ability to capture screenshots , and facial recognition to unlock

990-578: Is simply referred to as WLAN , and it may or may not work with " Wi-Fi Certified " devices. As of 2017, the Wi-Fi Alliance consisted of more than 800 companies from around the world. As of 2019, over 3.05 billion Wi-Fi-enabled devices are shipped globally each year. Wi-Fi uses multiple parts of the IEEE 802 protocol family and is designed to work seamlessly with its wired sibling, Ethernet . Compatible devices can network through wireless access points with each other as well as with wired devices and

1045-620: Is submitted for certification. The lack of Wi-Fi certification does not necessarily imply that a device is incompatible with other Wi-Fi devices. The Wi-Fi Alliance may or may not sanction derivative terms, such as Super Wi-Fi , coined by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to describe proposed networking in the UHF TV band in the US. Equipment frequently supports multiple versions of Wi-Fi. To communicate, devices must use

1100-417: Is used in applications such as motion detection and gesture recognition . Wi-Fi stations communicate by sending each other data packets , blocks of data individually sent and delivered over radio on various channels. As with all radio, this is done by the modulation and demodulation of carrier waves . Different versions of Wi-Fi use different techniques, 802.11b uses direct-sequence spread spectrum on

1155-542: The Eduroam international authentication infrastructure. In the early 2000s, many cities around the world announced plans to construct citywide Wi-Fi networks. There are many successful examples; in 2004, Mysore (Mysuru) became India's first Wi-Fi-enabled city. A company called WiFiyNet has set up hotspots in Mysore, covering the whole city and a few nearby villages. In 2005, St. Cloud, Florida and Sunnyvale, California , became

SECTION 20

#1733093998028

1210-636: The ISM bands for unlicensed use for communications. These frequency bands include the same 2.4 GHz bands used by equipment such as microwave ovens , and are thus subject to interference. In 1991 in Nieuwegein , the NCR Corporation and AT&T invented the precursor to 802.11, intended for use in cashier systems, under the name WaveLAN . NCR's Vic Hayes , who held the chair of IEEE 802.11 for ten years, along with Bell Labs engineer Bruce Tuch, approached

1265-569: The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to create a standard and were involved in designing the initial 802.11b and 802.11a specifications within the IEEE. They have both been subsequently inducted into the Wi-Fi NOW Hall of Fame. In 1989 in Australia, a team of scientists began working on wireless LAN technology. A prototype test bed for a wireless local area network (WLAN)

1320-505: The Wi-Fi Alliance formed as a trade association to hold the Wi-Fi trademark under which most IEEE 802.11 products are sold. The major commercial breakthrough came with Apple Inc. adopting Wi-Fi for their iBook series of laptops in 1999. It was the first mass consumer product to offer Wi-Fi network connectivity, which was then branded by Apple as AirPort . This was in collaboration with

1375-853: The Wi-Fi Alliance introduced simplified Wi-Fi generational numbering to indicate equipment that supports Wi-Fi 4 ( 802.11n ), Wi-Fi 5 ( 802.11ac ) and Wi-Fi 6 ( 802.11ax ). These generations have a high degree of backward compatibility with previous versions. The alliance has stated that the generational level 4, 5, or 6 can be indicated in the user interface when connected, along with the signal strength. The most important standards affecting Wi‑Fi are: 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n ( Wi-Fi 4 ), 802.11h, 802.11i, 802.11-2007, 802.11–2012, 802.11ac ( Wi-Fi 5 ), 802.11ad, 802.11af, 802.11-2016, 802.11ah, 802.11ai, 802.11aj, 802.11aq , 802.11ax ( Wi-Fi 6 ), 802.11ay . Wi-Fi technology may be used to provide local network and Internet access to devices that are within Wi-Fi range of one or more routers that are connected to

1430-455: The 11 permitted in the United States for the 2.4 GHz band, while Japan has three more (12–14). 802.11a/h/j/n/ac/ax can use the 5 GHz U-NII band , which, for much of the world, offers at least 23 non-overlapping 20 MHz channels. This is in contrast to the 2.4 GHz frequency band where the channels are only 5 MHz wide. In general, lower frequencies have longer range but have less capacity. The 5 GHz bands are absorbed to

1485-408: The 5 GHz band, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHz channels are permitted with some restrictions, giving much faster connections. Wi-Fi is part of the IEEE 802 protocol family. The data is organized into 802.11 frames that are very similar to Ethernet frames at the data link layer, but with extra address fields. MAC addresses are used as network addresses for routing over

1540-591: The Internet. Different versions of Wi-Fi are specified by various IEEE 802.11 protocol standards, with different radio technologies determining radio bands, maximum ranges, and speeds that may be achieved. Wi-Fi most commonly uses the 2.4 gigahertz (120 mm) UHF and 5 gigahertz (60 mm) SHF radio bands, with the 6 gigahertz SHF band used in newer generations of the standard; these bands are subdivided into multiple channels. Channels can be shared between networks, but, within range, only one transmitter can transmit on

1595-611: The Internet. The coverage of one or more interconnected access points can extend from an area as small as a few rooms to as large as many square kilometres. Coverage in the larger area may require a group of access points with overlapping coverage. For example, public outdoor Wi-Fi technology has been used successfully in wireless mesh networks in London. An international example is Fon . Wi-Fi provides services in private homes, businesses, as well as in public spaces. Wi-Fi hotspots may be set up either free of charge or commercially, often using

1650-578: The LAN. Wi-Fi's MAC and physical layer (PHY) specifications are defined by IEEE 802.11 for modulating and receiving one or more carrier waves to transmit the data in the infrared, and 2.4, 3.6 , 5, 6, or 60 GHz frequency bands. They are created and maintained by the IEEE LAN/MAN Standards Committee ( IEEE 802 ). The base version of the standard was released in 1997 and has had many subsequent amendments. The standard and amendments provide

1705-563: The Netherlands simultaneously claim the invention of Wi-Fi, and a consensus has not been reached globally. In 2009, the Australian CSIRO was awarded $ 200 million after a patent settlement with 14 technology companies, with a further $ 220 million awarded in 2012 after legal proceedings with 23 companies. In 2016, the CSIRO's WLAN prototype test bed was chosen as Australia's contribution to

HTC ThunderBolt - Misplaced Pages Continue

1760-543: The Wi-Fi Alliance did use the advertising slogan "The Standard for Wireless Fidelity" for a short time after the brand name was created, and the Wi-Fi Alliance was also called the "Wireless Fidelity Alliance Inc." in some publications. IEEE is a separate, but related, organization and their website has stated "WiFi is a short name for Wireless Fidelity". The name Wi-Fi was partly chosen because it sounds similar to Hi-Fi , which consumers take to mean high fidelity or high quality . Interbrand hoped consumers would find

1815-413: The Wi-Fi Alliance, the term Wi-Fi was chosen from a list of ten names that Interbrand proposed. Interbrand also created the Wi-Fi logo . The yin-yang Wi-Fi logo indicates the certification of a product for interoperability . The name is often written as WiFi , Wifi , or wifi , but these are not approved by the Wi-Fi Alliance. The name Wi-Fi is not short-form for 'Wireless Fidelity', although

1870-605: The basis for wireless network products using the Wi-Fi brand. While each amendment is officially revoked when incorporated in the latest version of the standard, the corporate world tends to market to the revisions because they concisely denote capabilities of their products. As a result, in the market place, each revision tends to become its own standard. In addition to 802.11, the IEEE 802 protocol family has specific provisions for Wi-Fi. These are required because Ethernet's cable-based media are not usually shared, whereas with wireless all transmissions are received by all stations within

1925-481: The capability. Some laptops that have a cellular modem card can also act as mobile Internet Wi-Fi access points. Many traditional university campuses in the developed world provide at least partial Wi-Fi coverage. Carnegie Mellon University built the first campus-wide wireless Internet network, called Wireless Andrew , at its Pittsburgh campus in 1993 before Wi-Fi branding existed. Many universities collaborate in providing Wi-Fi access to students and staff through

1980-569: The channel to be idle at the same time and thus begin transmission simultaneously. A collision happens when a station receives signals from multiple stations on a channel at the same time. This corrupts the transmitted data and can require stations to re-transmit. The lost data and re-transmission reduces throughput, in some cases severely. The 802.11 standard provides several distinct radio frequency ranges for use in Wi-Fi communications: 900  MHz , 2.4 GHz, 3.6 GHz, 4.9 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz and 60 GHz bands . Each range

2035-515: The database. Signal fluctuations can cause errors, which can be reduced with noise-filtering techniques. For low precision, integrating Wi-Fi data with geographical and time information has been proposed. The Wi-Fi RTT capability introduced in IEEE 802.11mc allows for positioning based on round trip time measurement, an improvement over the RSSI method. The IEEE 802.11az standard promises further improvements in geolocation accuracy. Wi-Fi sensing

2090-452: The device. It also improved the device's stability and improved connectivity issues. Connectivity issues were the reason why HTC and Verizon Wireless did not immediately release the 4.0.4 update. The "Fit the puzzle piece" unlock screen prompt was replaced by “Drag down to unlock.” Another new feature with the 4.0.4 update was the built-in data manager. This feature helps users manage and view their recent data usage. This feature would show

2145-505: The exhibition A History of the World in 100 Objects held in the National Museum of Australia . The name Wi-Fi , commercially used at least as early as August 1999, was coined by the brand-consulting firm Interbrand. The Wi-Fi Alliance had hired Interbrand to create a name that was "a little catchier than 'IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence'." According to Phil Belanger, a founding member of

2200-414: The first cities in the United States to offer citywide free Wi-Fi (from MetroFi ). Minneapolis has generated $ 1.2 million in profit annually for its provider . In May 2010, the then London mayor Boris Johnson pledged to have London-wide Wi-Fi by 2012. Several boroughs including Westminster and Islington already had extensive outdoor Wi-Fi coverage at that point. New York City announced

2255-489: The most widely used computer networks, used globally in home and small office networks to link devices and to provide Internet access with wireless routers and wireless access points in public places such as coffee shops, restaurants, hotels, libraries, and airports. Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance , which restricts the use of the term " Wi-Fi Certified " to products that successfully complete interoperability certification testing. Non-compliant hardware

HTC ThunderBolt - Misplaced Pages Continue

2310-452: The name catchy, and that they would assume this wireless protocol has high fidelity because of its name. Other technologies intended for fixed points, including Motorola Canopy , are usually called fixed wireless . Alternative wireless technologies include Zigbee , Z-Wave , Bluetooth and mobile phone standards . To connect to a Wi-Fi LAN, a computer must be equipped with a wireless network interface controller . The combination of

2365-566: The project, which was to be completed in 2015. Wi-Fi positioning systems use known positions of Wi-Fi hotspots to identify a device's location. It is used when GPS isn't suitable due to issues like signal interference or slow satellite acquisition. This includes assisted GPS , urban hotspot databases, and indoor positioning systems. Wi-Fi positioning relies on measuring signal strength ( RSSI ) and fingerprinting. Parameters like SSID and MAC address are crucial for identifying access points. The accuracy depends on nearby access points in

2420-735: The protocol stack. For internetworking purposes, Wi-Fi is usually layered as a link layer below the internet layer of the Internet Protocol . This means that nodes have an associated internet address and, with suitable connectivity, this allows full Internet access. IEEE 802 IEEE 802 is a family of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards for local area networks (LANs), personal area networks (PANs), and metropolitan area networks (MANs). The IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee (LMSC) maintains these standards. The IEEE 802 family of standards has had twenty-four members, numbered 802.1 through 802.24, with

2475-542: The range that employ that radio channel. While Ethernet has essentially negligible error rates, wireless communication media are subject to significant interference. Therefore, the accurate transmission is not guaranteed so delivery is, therefore, a best-effort delivery mechanism. Because of this, for Wi-Fi, the Logical Link Control (LLC) specified by IEEE 802.2 employs Wi-Fi's media access control (MAC) protocols to manage retries without relying on higher levels of

2530-504: The receiver uses the destination address to determine whether the transmission is relevant to the station or should be ignored. A scheme known as carrier-sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) governs the way stations share channels. With CSMA/CA stations attempt to avoid collisions by beginning transmission only after the channel is sensed to be idle, but then transmit their packet data in its entirety. CSMA/CA cannot completely prevent collisions, as two stations may sense

2585-400: The same channel also means that the data bandwidth is shared, so for example, available throughput to each device is halved when two stations are actively transmitting. As with other IEEE 802 LANs, stations come programmed with a globally unique 48-bit MAC address. The MAC addresses are used to specify both the destination and the source of each data packet. On the reception of a transmission,

2640-411: The same group that helped create the standard: Vic Hayes , Bruce Tuch, Cees Links , Rich McGinn, and others from Lucent . In the year 2000, Radiata, a group of Australian scientists connected to the CSIRO, were the first to use the 802.11a standard on chips connected to a Wi-Fi network. Wi-Fi uses a large number of patents held by many different organizations. Australia, the United States and

2695-511: The same wireless channel, SSID, and other settings that have wirelessly connected, usually to the same access point. Each BSS is identified by a MAC address called the BSSID . The IEEE does not test equipment for compliance with their standards. The Wi-Fi Alliance was formed in 1999 to establish and enforce standards for interoperability and backward compatibility , and to promote wireless local-area-network technology. The Wi-Fi Alliance enforces

2750-561: The scope of the IEEE 802 standards. The number 802 has no significance: it was simply the next number in the sequence that the IEEE used for standards projects. The services and protocols specified in IEEE 802 map to the lower two layers (data link and physical) of the seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) networking reference model. IEEE 802 divides the OSI data link layer into two sub-layers: logical link control (LLC) and medium access control (MAC), as follows: Everything above LLC

2805-445: The structure. Similarly, battery-powered routers may include a mobile broadband modem and a Wi-Fi access point. When subscribed to a cellular data carrier, they allow nearby Wi-Fi stations to access the Internet. Many smartphones have a built-in mobile hotspot capability of this sort, though carriers often disable the feature, or charge a separate fee to enable it. Standalone devices such as MiFi - and WiBro -branded devices provide

SECTION 50

#1733093998028

2860-756: The use of the Wi-Fi brand to technologies based on the IEEE 802.11 standards from the IEEE. Manufacturers with membership in the Wi-Fi Alliance, whose products pass the certification process, gain the right to mark those products with the Wi-Fi logo. Specifically, the certification process requires conformance to the IEEE 802.11 radio standards, the WPA and WPA2 security standards, and the EAP authentication standard. Certification may optionally include tests of IEEE 802.11 draft standards, interaction with cellular-phone technology in converged devices, and features relating to security set-up, multimedia, and power-saving. Not every Wi-Fi device

2915-626: The world. The UK has planned a similar project across major cities of the country, with the project's first implementation in the London Borough of Camden . Officials in South Korea's capital Seoul were moving to provide free Internet access at more than 10,000 locations around the city, including outdoor public spaces, major streets, and densely populated residential areas. Seoul was planning to grant leases to KT, LG Telecom, and SK Telecom. The companies were supposed to invest $ 44 million in

2970-560: Was developed in 1992 by a team of researchers from the Radiophysics Division of the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) in Australia, led by John O'Sullivan . A patent for Wi Fi was lodged by the CSIRO in 1992 The first version of the 802.11 protocol was released in 1997, and provided up to 2 Mbit/s link speeds. This was updated in 1999 with 802.11b to permit 11 Mbit/s link speeds. In 1999,

3025-501: Was so much pent-up demand for the ThunderBolt that it broke pre-sale records for at least one online vendor. However, despite early demand for the phone, HTC has appeared to struggle in their attempts to address multiple complaints about the device. Some features were removed just prior to release, such as a built-in Skype app with video calling capability. Common reported issues include complaints of short battery life, frequent rebooting, and

#27972