Why is Wi-Fi on the computer always catching better on the phone?

Although using the same source, it is possible that Wi-Fi speed on smartphones cannot be as good as on laptops.

Since its launch until now, Wi-Fi has always been the standard wireless networking technology used extremely popular. Eliminating distance barriers especially the entanglement of wired networks, Wi-Fi still provides a true internet experience even with extremely fast data transfer rates.

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Of course, Wi-Fi is also the most popular network connection on smartphones and tablets today. But if you notice, you will find that smartphones are capable of catching Wi-Fi waves less than laptops or desktops. So we will find the reason for this problem.

1. The problem of energy use

One of the top concerns of smartphone users is the battery life. Due to its small size, a smartphone cannot come with a large capacity battery. Activating Wi-Fi means that your phone will consume battery power faster mainly where weak Wi-Fi waves, flickering wave quality, the device will constantly perform Searching tasks (searching network) and try connecting.

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Manufacturers often have to consider carefully to balance the ability to catch the wave and the amount of Wi-Fi usage of the device. Providing antennas with more energy, the ability to catch waves is farther, stronger and vice versa.

Meanwhile, if you use Wi-Fi with a desktop computer, you almost no longer worry about energy consumption. Simply because it works by direct power. And the laptop has a very high capacity battery, far better than smartphones, so the power supplied to the Wi-Fi antenna is much more.

2. Antenna size

Antennas on wireless router routers usually have a length of about 20 cm or even larger and each router also often owns up to 3 such antennas. A large size antenna is not always better than a small antenna, but this is a very rare case. The best wireless transceivers today have very large antennas. There is both a theoretical science around the antenna and an antenna design so that the ability to receive / broadcast is always the most ideal.

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So does smartphone use Wi-Fi antenna? The answer is yes, and manufacturers are forced to use very small antennas (like a toothpick), a length of only about 5 cm, usually placed on the top / bottom running vertically along the machine. Besides, this antenna is also enclosed in a cramped space of many other electronic components.

In contrast, Wi-Fi antennas in laptops are significantly longer and desktop computers may be much larger.

3. Number of antennas

Today to focus on reducing the thickness of the device, while increasing battery capacity and cramming lots of other technologies, smartphone manufacturers often use only one Wi-Fi antenna.

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However, the Wi-Fi transmitter will split the data packet into several parts, each of which is called a data stream and transmits each data stream through separate antennas, the data receiving mechanism is nearly similar. self. Therefore, having more than one laptop or desktop antenna greatly increases the ability to send and receive individual signals.

Since then, network access or data download performance of Wi-Fi connections has also been enhanced. With limited drawbacks in the number of antennas, smartphones are not appreciated for the distance of broadcast and transmission rate compared to computers.

4. Frequency

Currently, Wi-Fi waves can operate in 2 bands of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Compared to the 2.4 GHz band, the 5 GHz band has the advantage of avoiding interference of other household devices. However, the fact that most smartphones currently do not support the 5 GHz band, we can only use this band on laptops, desktops and a handful of smartphones.

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5. Wi-Fi standard

Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity or 802.11 network as a wireless network that uses radio waves, like cell phones, television and radio. The name 802.11 originates from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). This institute creates standards for many different technical protocols, and it uses a character system to classify them. The current four common standards of Wi-Fi are 802.11a / b / g / n and a new standard appears to be 802.11ac.

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802.11ac allows an average transfer rate 3 times higher than 802.11n, thereby helping the 802.11ac standard become the first Wi-Fi standard to exceed the 1 Gbps threshold. Remember, until 2009, the maximum speed of Wi-Fi is only about 100 Mbps. Besides, the new Wi-Fi standards have also improved coverage. For example, standard g has a coverage range of about 40 m but in standard n can be up to 70m.

The advantage of standard ac is its superior speed. However, only a few high-end smartphones such as Galaxy S4 , HTC One , Sony Xperia Z Ultra are equipped with 802.11ac Wi-Fi.