By Charles Miller
Some months ago in this column I related the tale of my setting up Wi-Fi hardware for a new house still under construction. That house was in a location that was completely off-grid with no telephone service, no cell phone signal, and no internet (yet). The owners were scheduled to have a satellite disk installed soon and that would provide internet connectivity. Working on the job site were gardeners, carpenters and cabinetmakers. Most of them stopped working when I began configuring the Wi-Fi hardware; because they all saw a new Wi-Fi hot spot appear on their smart phones. They all thought just because they saw a Wi-Fi signal appear on their smart phones they should be able to use it to spend their time on Facebook.
Looking outside I could see there were a half dozen gardeners working, and they were the most amusing to watch. When I started to work on the first wireless router my cell phone beeped to indicate a new Wi-Fi signal had been detected. Likewise all the gardeners heard their phones beep so they threw down their hoes and shovels to start fingering their smartphones. Eventually they all realized there was no internet and went back to work. That scene was repeated several times because I had six wireless routers to configure. Some carpenters and cabinet makers working inside came up to ask me why they could not get on the internet. One of them complained that his smart phone showed it had a perfectly strong signal, but he still could not get to Facebook. I explained there was Wi-Fi but that the Wi-Fi was not connected to the internet until the satellite disk was installed.
The one worker who never asked me anything was the electrician. Later I realized that anyone who works with electricity already understood. What they understood was that if you plug a tool into an electrical extension cord, the tool is not going to work if the other end of the extension cord is not plugged into the wall. And if you plug the cord into the wall and it still does not work then the circuit breaker could be tripped or the electric bill not paid, and so on.
Any electric tool or appliance you plug in is never connected directly to the distant generating plant. The electricity that powers your devices has to come through a long series of wires in your house that are connected to the electrical grid that gets its power from transmission lines connected to distant generating plants. Each part of that chain has to be connected or your device gets no power. This is something the electrician instantly understood, but the gardeners less so.
“But my phone says it’s connected!” one of the gardeners wailed. “Yes” your phone might have a good strong connection to the nearest Wi-Fi Access Point but if that AP does not have a connection to the internet then your phone will not have one either. That icon on your smart phone does not mean you are connected to the internet. It only indicates you are connected as far as the local Wi-Fi Access Point a few meters away. That Wi-Fi AP may or may not be connected to the internet.
Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant, a frequent visitor to San Miguel since 1981 and now practically a full-time resident. He may be contacted at 415-101-8528 or email FAQ8 (at) SMAguru.com.
