The cellular mobile network we can see now actually refers to the 2/3/4/5G network that we can use now. The public mobile communication system uses cellular mobile technology. The difference between the public mobile communication network and WiFi is that one is the technology of the wide area network and the other is the technology of the local area network.
Cellular mobile is the foundation of mobile communication technology.
The initial public radio communications used technologies with strong regional coverage. The transmission power of radio stations in that era was very high, and it was necessary to build a very high antenna tower. The signal coverage area was also relatively wide, usually covering tens or even hundreds of kilometers. The more typical ones are the radio stations we listen to and Early TV programs received by antennas.
In 1947, Bell Labs in the United States put forward the technical idea of cellular mobile communication, and achieved feasibility verification in 1977, and in 1978 the technology was verified on the AMPS system. AMPS is the 1G technology in the United States. The Big Brother we used before is this technology. AMPS is also the most widely deployed 1G technology in the world.
Cellular mobile communication proposes the concept of cell system. The coverage area of the original large area is divided into multiple cells, and a base station is built in the center of each cell. In this way, each base station can cover a short distance, and the terminal can communicate with the nearest cell. The communication between the terminals reduces the terminal's transmitting power and enables the miniaturization of the terminal, which eventually led to the advent of mobile phones.
Since the signal coverage of these cells is similar to a hexagon, and the entire network structure is similar to a "cellular", it is called cellular communication, and the English for cellular communication is Cellular.
Cellular communication is to replace the original regional system, so it is naturally a wide area network technology.
The regional system is a communication technology with a large coverage radius. Cellular communication replaces the regional system. To achieve the technical performance of the original regional system, it is naturally a wide area network technology.
Cellular mobile communication is combined with TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, OFDMA and other multiplexing technologies to form our mobile communication network. ,
WiFi is a local area network technology.
WiFi technology belongs to the local area network technology in the communication industry, and it belongs to the wireless local area network technology. The advent of WiFi technology is to supplement wired LANs, and is also considered an extension technology for fixed networks.
WiFi technology has evolved over the years, from the original IEEE 802.11b to the current IEEE 802.11ax. IEEE 802.11ax is now the popular WiFi 6.
Cellular mobile communication networks and WiFi are used in different scenarios.
Cellular mobile communication network is a network that requires operators to be responsible for construction, maintenance, and operation. It requires a lot of investment. While ensuring system capacity, cellular mobile communication networks also have relatively high reliability and mobility requirements. These two are the shortcomings of WiFi technology.
In the 5G era, cellular mobile communication networks will compete with WiFi for some application scenarios.
5G is an era of industry applications, and a large number of industry applications are in indoor areas, which also makes mobile communication networks begin to enter the original application scenarios of WiFi.
In the 5G era, there will be a large number of small base stations for indoor deployment, which will pose a big challenge to traditional WiFi technology. In the future, there may also be no need to deploy WiFi products such as wireless routers in the home, and the small base stations provided by operators are responsible for users. Data business needs indoors.
All in all, cellular mobile communication technology can be said to be the basis of current mobile communication technology. Any mobile communication network belongs to cellular mobile network. The cellular mobile we see on some devices now refers to the 2/3 of those we use. /4/5G network.