How Does a Wireless Modem Work?

In this era of technology, almost everything has gone online. To lead a hitch-free life, one needs to have easy access to the internet at any given point in time. To access the internet, you will need a modem, however. The modem is a device that allows your computer, smartphones or PDAs to access broadband internet. There are different kinds of modems with each one accessing the internet in a different manner.

Wired modems use analog technology of telephone lines to allow your digitalized computer send signals back and forth over a telephone connection. So essentially, your computer is using the modem as a translator to convert messages from analog to digital and back again as it sends and receives messages.

A wireless modem, on the other hand, is one that bypasses the analog telephone system and connects directly to a wireless network. In this way, your modem can get internet connectivity provided by your ISP (Internet Service Provider). Wireless modems can be available in the form of USB, dongles, or as serial or wireless firewall modems. They are also available prebuilt within your smartphones, mobile phones or PDAs (Personal Data Assistants) and can come in sizes ranging from a regular cable modem to as small as a credit card. Such types of wireless modems include express card modems, compact flash modems or PC card modems. Some of these wireless modems might even include GPS capabilities.

Advancements in technology have meant that you no longer need to depend only on wired modems but can instead use smartphones, mobile phones, and PDAs as data modems which can create wireless access points for personal computer connections too. Today, nearly all mobile phones support the Hayes Command Set standard thus allowing the phone to act as an external modem when connected via a USB, serial cable or wireless Bluetooth.

Wireless modems don’t depend on a telephone system; instead, they connect directly to the wireless internet service provider via a satellite connection for the purpose of gaining access to the internet. A wireless network can also be accomplished via a wireless router. The modem transmits signals to permit access to the internet. The router serves the purpose of splitting this signal so that other computer devices within the vicinity can then connect to the internet, thus creating a wireless network. A computer system with wireless capabilities can pick up these wireless signals, enabling the user to surf the internet. Such systems can be seen in international airports, railway stations and becoming available in increasingly more public spaces.