Bluetooth is a great technological advancement that adds a ton of convenience to our way of life. If you recall before Bluetooth, it was cables, cables and more cables. Cables connected the DVD player to the TV; the printer to the computer; telephone extensions throughout the house and my favorite, the keyboard and mouse to the computer. Thankfully that archaic form is safely tucked away in the books of history.
Like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth is a way of linking electronic gadgets together by using wireless technology. It sends and receives radio waves in a band of 79 different frequencies centered on 2.45 GHz and is set apart from radio, television and cellphones. This frequency is also reserved for use by industrial, scientific and medical gadgets. However, your use of Bluetooth does not interfere with any of these because Bluetooth is low power and the signals do not travel very far. In fact, they use virtually no power and are more secure than wireless networks.
So how does Bluetooth differ from Wi-Fi? Well, Wi-Fi is designed to transfer much larger amounts of data between computers and the internet and over much greater distances. This is a task that Bluetooth cannot handle. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are complementary technologies, not rivals, and you can easily use both together to make your electronic gadgets work more conveniently for you.
We often take such inventions for granted. In those instances, simply think back to the way it used to be and then give thanks to the “nerds” who have made our lives so much easier. Back in the 1800’s there was a movement by many in government arguing that the US Patent office should be shut down. The reason cited was that “there is nothing left to be invented.” Thankfully the office was not shut down and the wiser voices prevailed.