Wireless networks are communication that is done without the use of cables. Its use dates back several centuries. In the 1820’s, Hans Christian Oersted and Andre-Marie Ampere discovered electromagnetism, which is a manifestation of both the electric and magnetic fields. Then, in 1832, Joseph Henry and Samuel F.B. Morse had demonstrated how electrical telegraphy works, which is a telegraph that uses electrical signals that are relayed through telecommunication lines or radio.

Telegraphs started to make their appearance in the 1940’s when networks were built in California and in the East Coast of the United States. This was shortly followed by the first transatlantic cable set up in 1858, the propagation of wireless technology by James Clerk Maxwell in 1864 and subsequently a radio-telegraph experiment conducted by Marconi and Popov. As you can see, the technology that we have today all has its basis in the inventions and creations of these scientists a decades ago.

Wireless networks were used to communicate and to disseminate information in those days, just like why we use them these days. In times when people were separated by war, wireless networks became the primary form of communication. It was also a method of receiving and sending out information. The Americans referred to the radio as well, a radio, but the British called it a wireless. Both meant the same thing and works by radiating electromagnetic waves from the transmitting station. One of the first few to use the term ‘wireless’ was the British Broadcasting Company as evident from their program guide called the “The Radio Times” in 1923.

Nowadays, mobile phones are probably the most common form of wireless networks. Everyone owns one these days, some are even children who haven’t even reached teenage age. Phones are used not only as a form of communication these days but also as a method of obtaining updates and information and as a tool of entertainment. Satellites are another form of wireless networks, enabling us to watch cable tv and to receive programmes that are being shown live on another part of the world. Emergency services also utilises wireless networks. Police and rescue departments use wireless networks to receive and send out information quickly. And of course there is the Internet. We are connected to a wide web where everything is made possible, be it shopping, entertaining or banking. Wireless networks have indeed made life a breeze, thanks to the forefathers of technology who have established such great inventions in the yesteryears.