Modem: Encyclopedia II - Modem - Wireless modems

Modem - Wireless modems

Wireless modems come in a variety of types, bandwidths, and speeds. Wireless modems are often referred to as transparent or smart. They transmit information that is modulated onto a carrier frequency to allow many simultaneous wireless communication links to work simultaneously on different frequencies.

Transparent modems operate in a manner similar to their phone line modem cousins. Typically, they are half duplex, meaning that they cannot send and receive data at the same time. Typically transparent modems are polled in a round robin manner to collect small amounts of data from scattered locations that do not have easy access to wired infrastructure. Transparent modems are most commonly used by utility companies for data collection.

Smart modems come with a media access controller inside which prevents random data from colliding and resending data that is not correctly received. Smart modems typically require more bandwidth than transparent modems, and typically use more radio frequency bandwidth. The IEEE 802.11 standard includes a short range modem that is used on a large scale throughout the world.

Wireless Data Modems are used in WiFi or WiMax Standards.

WiFi= could be used in laptops for internet connections (wireless access point and wireless application protocol/WAP)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Wireless modems", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki