Technologies for Entrepreneurs 13 – Wireless Internet

For this entry of the series of Technologies for entrepreneurs, I will talk about a technology most of us use on a daily basis, that we take for granted, but which is vital for many people: Wireless Internet. I’ll be talking of the 2 most important variants of Wireless Internet: Wi-Fi and Cellular Networks,

Some 10 or 12 years ago, when I was in the university studying my career I was one of the few students that had a laptop. My university started to provide Wi-Fi access and I had to buy an external card to make use of this. However this Wi-Fi access was limited to only 2 or 3 zones of the campus.

Over a decade later, so many things have changed. To start, the university has Wi-Fi coverage across all the campus and almost every student access this network, through their laptops and mainly with their Tablets and Smartphones. And this situation can be seen all over the world, in small and large cities, where restaurants, hotels, public parks and more offer free or paid Wi-Fi access.

In ten years, the Wi-Fi networks changed from being a luxury and something weird, to a common element. I travel often and even when I’m in my hometown, I visit clients and public venues, where I rely on this public Internet access. I use it to check my emails, browse the web, chat and much more (using secure Internet Access, as I explained in a previous article). We give this networks for granted, however, we have to thank for their existence.

The other Wireless Internet technology most of us use on a daily basis, is Cellular Networks, with technologies like 3G, 4G, 4G LTE and in a couple years, 5G. With these networks, we can have additional and permanent coverage, in what is known as being hyperconnected.

Our lives, for good and bad, have been changed forever. If we didn’t had wireless Internet, the way we work and communicate will be altered. Business will be different and for entrepreneurs, our life will have to change.

As an entrepreneur and a consultant, I have many devices that are connected to the Internet. Some are fixed devices, such as my TV, Blu-Ray and Apple TV Player. But I have 3 devices that I use to connect wirelessly, namely my laptop, Tablet and Smartphone. For these devices, I count on both public Wi-Fi networks as well as my cellular wireless provider.

In the past I use to share my cellphone’s Internet connection with my laptop and/or Tablet. However, I found that I was using more battery on my cellphone, which wasn’t the ideal situation. So I purchased a mobile cellular access Wi-Fi device, usually called MiFi. In this way, I can share Internet access to up to 10 devices and I have a better battery consumption on my phone. I share with you this idea, as you can take advantage of this type of new devices.

As entrepreneurs and businesspersons, we have to keep in touch of new technologies that allow us to access Internet. Some will work; others won’t, but is nice to have the possibilities at our disposal.

Image taken from Flickr.com