We are all familiar with the two technologies known as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Both of them are wireless technologies which make use of radio waves and a free open atmosphere as a communication channel. The main difference between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi is the purpose behind their design. Bluetooth is essentially used to connect short-range devices for sharing data and Wi-Fi provides high-speed internet access.
Wi-Fi officially launched in the year 1997 was set in the year of 1990 which was head by, victor hayes who is also known as the father of WiFi Bluetooth technology invention has been credited to Ericsson, which in the year of 1994 launched it as a wireless communication alternative to RS232.
So now let us check out the difference between Bluetooth and WiFi to know more understanding about Bluetooth and WiFi.
Difference between Bluetooth and WiFi
- Bluetooth was initially defined under IEEE 802.15.1 standard but is now taken care of by a special interest group SIG, on the other hand, Wi-Fi is defined under 802.11X where X is a, b, c etc series of protocols and is currently maintained under the same.
- Bluetooth updated several versions such as Bluetooth 2.0, 2.1, and Bluetooth 3.0 and the latest Bluetooth 4.0 added technologies such as Enhanced Data Rate (EDR), alternate MAC/PHY, and low energy protocols have been implemented in these updates whereas Wi-Fi updates are quite different such as IEEE 802.11 standard such as IEEE 802.11a, b, c etc. These versions vary in terms of security protocols, radio frequency used for data exchange, maximum speed for data exchange, the bandwidth occupied etc.
- Bluetooth works at the frequency range of 2.400 GHz and 2.483 GHz while Wi-Fi works in the range of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.
- The latest updates of Bluetooth promise data transfer rates of up to 25 Mbps while the latest Wi-Fi updates can reach up to 250 Mbps of data transfer rates.
- Bluetooth-based wireless connection's maximum range is 30m while Wi-Fi, it can extend well up to 100m. In Wi-Fi, the range depends on the version of the Wi-Fi protocol and antennas in the wireless communication system.
- In Bluetooth, up to 7 devices can be connected to each other while in Wi-Fi maximum connections depend on a Wi-Fi router which can accommodate several connections at a time.
- Bluetooth is fairly simple as there is just a simple key-matching process for connecting two devices while Wi-Fi needs expertise in configuration and security passcode matching process so the Wi-Fi connection process is much more complex than Bluetooth.
- New versions of Bluetooth were encryption and even now Bluetooth security is limited to key matching whereas Wi-Fi security standards have been raised with the inclusion of new versions. Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) are the two most used security accesses used in Wi-Fi.
- Wi-Fi is able to work at longer distances and is loaded with high-quality security protocols making them more power-consuming than Bluetooth.
- Wi-Fi is more used in connecting computers to routers or internet gateways also used to connect with each other while Bluetooth is used to connect peripherals to a computer such as keyboards, mice, headsets etc.
- Bluetooth used low bandwidth of 800 Kbps while Wi-Fi used a high bandwidth range of around 11 Mbps.
- Bluetooth is less secure and Wi-Fi security issues already being debated.
- The latency of Bluetooth is 200ms and Bit-rate is 2.1 Mbps and Wi-Fi latency is 150 ms and Bit-rate is 600 Mbps.
- Bluetooth use modulation technique is GFSK (Gaussian frequency shift keying) and OFDM (Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) and QAM (Quadrature amplitude modulation) used by Wi-Fi.
Explore more information: