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Home What is WiFi?
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Emirates Airline to launch WiFi
via Inmarsat onboard its aircraft Hotspots are places where you can access Wi-Fi service, for free or for a fee. Hotspots can be found in airport lounges, coffee shops, corporate cafeterias or any other meeting area within range of a wireless LAN base station. To use a hotspot, your computer must be configured with a
There are thousands of hotspots all over the world—and more are being added every day. Many hotspots are identified with a wireless service provider's logo. There are a few WLAN standards, the newest ones being
backwards compatible to older standards. The WLAN standards were started with the 802.11 standard, developed in 1997 by the IEEE. This base standard allowed data transmission of up to 2 Mbps. Over time, this standard has been enhanced. These extensions are recognized by the addition of a letter to the original 802.11 standard, including 802.11a and 802.11b. The 802.11b specification was ratified by the IEEE in July 1999 and operates at radio frequencies in the 2.4 to 2.497 GHz bandwidth of the radio spectrum. The modulation method selected for 802.11b is known as complementary direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) using complementary code keying (CCK) making data speeds as high as 11 Mbps. The 802.11a specification was also ratified in July 1999, but products did not become available until 2001 so it isn't as widely deployed as 802.11b. 802.11a operates at radio frequencies between 5.15 and 5.875 GHz and a modulation scheme known as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) makes data speeds as high as 54 Mbps possible. IEEE sets the standard, but does not ensure compliance to the standard nor does it ensure interoperability between different manufacturers' products. The wireless standard you choose depends on application requirements and your usage patterns. The table below summarizes the differentiating features of each standard. The most common and prevalent wireless networking products are compatible with the 802.11b standard, working in the 2.4 GHz band with a data-transfer rate of up to 11Mbps.
Intel® Centrino™ mobile technology features single
(802.11b) and dual (802.11a/b) band Wi-Fi CERTIFIED*
wireless LAN capabilities, and will also work with Wi-Fi
CERTIFIED* 802.11g access points.
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Find WiFi (802.11a/b/g) hotspots and Public WLAN coverage
throughout South Africa & Africa West 
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Wi-Fi-CERTIFIED
radio, such as an external PC card or an integrated wireless
LAN capability, as available with on laptops with Intel
Centrino chipsets. You will also need to choose a wireless
service provider, which works like an ISP to provide
wireless Internet access for a fee-often at T1 speeds. 
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