These packets exchange through one of 79 designated Bluetooth channels (each of which is 1 MHz in bandwidth). In engineering speak, Bluetooth is a frequency-hopping radio technology that transmits data packets within the 2.4 GHz band. With this technology, data exchanges over a short-range without the need for wires. Although similar, Bluetooth is actually the wireless connection that lies between your phone and the device you’re connected to. When most people think of Bluetooth, they picture a wireless headphone or some other device connecting you to the data you’re broadcasting. What is Bluetooth?īefore we can understand the difference between the two technologies, we must first understand how they work. How do these wireless network technologies fit into the IoT and Machine to Machine (M2M) world? Let’s take a deeper look. One of the most influential revisions that hit the market in 2011 is called Bluetooth 4.0 or Bluetooth Low Energy (LE). Since then, Bluetooth has gone through many revisions and enhancements. If you see the Bluetooth symbol on a device, it means you can connect it to other Bluetooth-enabled devices wirelessly.Although the first mobile phone with Bluetooth capacity appeared in the market in 2000, the technology did not pick up momentum until 2004 with the introduction of EDR (Enhanced Data Rate). These days, Bluetooth is in most computers, laptops, cell phones, tablets, keyboards, mice, headphones, console gaming devices, smartwatches, fitness trackers, hearing aids, and many other peripheral devices. Originally invented as a way to connect devices without using cables, Bluetooth is now supported in almost every wireless device you can find. Bluetooth is also slower than WiFi, and it has a shorter range (usually up to 30 feet).
Wifi vs bluetooth headphone password#
For example, you might have to push a Bluetooth pairing button on your wireless headphones and then select those headphones from your computer’s list of discoverable Bluetooth devices.īecause Bluetooth doesn’t require a password to connect between devices, it means that the connection is usually not as secure as WiFi. Then you will select that device from another device. Typically, you will need to pair your Bluetooth devices by pressing and holding a button on one device. However, unlike WiFi, Bluetooth does not require you to use a password to connect to a device. In fact, Bluetooth uses some of the same frequencies as WiFi, which can cause interference with WiFi devices. Like WiFi, Bluetooth also uses radio signals to send data between devices. For example, you can use Bluetooth to connect your computer to a wireless keyboard or pair your phone with a Bluetooth speaker. This allows you to access the internet on your device wirelessly.īluetooth is used to transfer data between your electronic devices over short distances. Then, your WiFi-enabled devices receive that radio signal and transform it back into an internet signal. To do this, you need a WiFi router to take an internet signal from your modem and transform it into a radio signal. To use WiFi, you usually have to enter a WiFi password on your device so you can connect to a local area network (LAN) via a router.īasically, WiFi allows you to surf the web without connecting your device to a phone line or a cable outlet. WiFi is a wireless technology that is primarily used to connect your devices to the internet.
In order to understand the differences between the two, it is important to define how Bluetooth and WiFi work in more detail. While WiFi is mainly used to connect your devices to the internet, Bluetooth is only used to connect your devices to each other. WiFiīluetooth and WiFi are both wireless technologies for connecting your devices, but they are quite different. But what do these two terms actually mean? Here’s everything you need to know about the difference between Bluetooth and WiFi, and whether you can use Bluetooth without WiFi.
If you own a phone, a laptop, a computer, or any other modern electronic device, there is a good chance that you’ve seen the Bluetooth and WiFi symbols.