Out of curiosity, I whipped out my phone while walking through my neighborhood. I opened the Wifi Analyzer app just to see how many Wi-Fi networks were in range. I was shocked at the results.
Wi-Fi is everywhere. I mean, if humans could see the network signals, our world would be painted by them. My guess is that every home in my neighborhood has a Wi-Fi network setup. It’s amazing.
Unlike wired networking, Wi-Fi requires a password for security. I think everyone knows that. It’s not like the early days where people wouldn’t set the password and you’d get interlopers mooching your signal. Today, I think all Wi-Fi routers have passwords, but that introduces a new element into the mix: How to remember and properly type in the password.
Especially on a smartphone or tablet, typing a password can be a real pain.
For example, consider this password:
10OlII100OOll11I100O
That’s a legitimate password. It uses L, O, and I plus the numbers one and zero. I formatted it above using a sans-serif font, which is what most mobile devices use — much to the detriment of password-typing enthusiasts everywhere. The result is obvious: Typing in a password on your phone or tablet becomes a guessing game. It’s frustrating.
A better solution is to use Wi-Fi Protected Setup, the WPS standard.
Unlike traditional Wi-Fi passwords, WPS allows you to instantly connect your Wi-Fi hardware to a router or base station without typing anything. All you do is press a button and touch an icon.
The WPS icon is shown on the left. If the Wi-Fi router supports this feature, then you’ll find that symbol on the router somewhere next to a button. To connect a Wi-Fi device to the router, touch the button.
On the device, look for a similar button or icon. For example, on an Android device, open the Settings app and choose Wi-Fi. You’ll find the button on the Wi-Fi screen or you may have to touch a Find Network or Scan command.
That’s it!
When you touch the icon, the connection is made instantly between your device and the Wi-Fi router. No passwords. No typing.
Most Android mobile devices I’ve seen sport the WPS feature. The problem you’ll encounter more frequently are Wi-Fi routers that lack this feature. Fortunately, newer routers come with the WPS button. So as folks update their older Wi-Fi routers, this feature should become more popular. Until then, you’ll need to slog away typing those 23-character passwords on your mobile device and praying that you get the letters correct.
