by Leo Wong

Created on: November 13, 2008

The short answer for the difference between the two is that WiFi has a longer range, is faster, is more secure, and is more power hungry than Bluetooth. Both are technologies that wirelessly transfer data over radio frequencies in the 2.4GHz range.

Here is some comparative background information which you may find useful when chatting with your buddies on the subject.

WiFi does NOT stand for "wireless fidelity" as some might suspect. The moniker was created by Interbrand for the Wi-Fi Alliance. The concept of WiFi was surprisingly invented by the famous actress, Hedy Lamarr, and her composer friend George Antheil back in 1942. They received a U.S. patent for their frequency hopping idea and gave it away for free to the Navy to help them defeat the Nazis. Unfortunately, the Navy could not make the concept work. It was not until 1958 that a Naval Engineer produced a working model and used it during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The secretive nature of frequency hopping was considered classified technology and wasn't divulged to the public until 1985, when the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) was allowed to license the technology in radios but only in low frequency bands called ISM bands (these bands were not used for much other than in microwave ovens). What this meant was data could be transferred wirelessly and for free within short distances (like an average of 125ft). With that, the proliferation of wireless phones and baby monitors came into the marketplace, and subsequently, cell phones. In 1990, a new IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.) committee called 802.11 was set up to standardize and see if better products could be produced using this bandwidth. Finally, in 1997, this new standard was published and products began to take off. like the wireless modem that you have sitting in your local Starbucks. A consortium was created called the Wi-Fi Alliance (originally called WECA for Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance) in 1999 and presently there are some 320 member companies worldwide. When you think of a local area network (LAN), like a bunch of computers linked together, think WiFi.

Bluetooth was named after a Danish king called Harald Blaatand who unified Denmark and Norway. Blaatand means Bluetooth in Danish, and the group of companies (Intel, Ericcson, Nokia) was aiming to unify the telecom and computer industries in the short-range wireless link. Formed in 1996, this special interest group (SIG) wanted to standardize their technologies in order to allow products to communicate with one another more seamlessly while having a low power consumption. By the year 2000, products began to roll out like, wireless mouses, headsets, and PC cards. In 2002, the IEEE finally approved the 802.15 specification to conform with Bluetooth technology. Communication between devices average about 30ft and transfers data at a rate of 2.1Mbps (compared to 200+Mbps for WiFi 802.11N devices). Presently, there are 10,000 members in the SIG. When you think of devices that connect together as a personal area network (PAN), like a headset to a cellphone, think Bluetooth.

This all may change in the future as both technologies encroach on each other and offer more powerful, yet less power hungry devices. Some say that in the near future, one technology may eventually eclipse the other and render it obsolete. This will only benefit the consumer as better products become available.

Learn more about this author, Leo Wong.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.