How To Make Wifi Calls On Android Phone

The ultimate guide to Wifi and Android

Everyone with a smartphone knows almost Wifi. If nil else, you know information technology's what happens when you lot become your AT&T phone also shut to a Starbucks and your Internet gets faster (or slower) because you were automagically switched from a cell tower connection to a closer — but lower-powered — wireless connection that's made available for the public.

Of form, there is a lot going on to make that connectedness happen. While we're non going to dig into anything too technical similar the software stack or the radio interface hardware, we are going to talk about the things y'all and I, as users, should know.

Don't worry, this'll be fun!

What is Wifi?

Wifi, or WIFI, or Wi-Fi, or fifty-fifty WiFi refers to any local access wireless network that is based on the IEEE (Found of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 standards. Devices on a Wifi network commutation data through the airwaves using either a two.4 GHz Ultra high frequency or 5 GHz Super high frequency (I'thou not making these names up!) connectedness.

A typical Wifi setup consists of an Internet gateway (commonly a modem) and an access point. The modem is continued to the Internet, and the admission bespeak has a defended connection to the modem. What the access signal can do (at home, your router is your access point) is filter the things you ship and receive from the Internet and distribute them wirelessly to the device that made the request.

There is a lot of complicated software at work on your access signal, and fifty-fifty the administration interface tin can be a bit confusing. All we really need to know is that a properly setup WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) lets united states of america connect our phone or tablet or Chromebook to the Internet through a Wifi connexion. Go out the complicated stuff to nerds with lots of letters after their proper noun.

Why exercise I come across and then many available Wifi connections on my phone?

When you open the Wifi settings on your phone, y'all see a list of every access point y'all've ever connected to, as well as every access signal in range that broadcasts its presence. This can be a flake confusing because that little hamburger joint you lot connected to in Jacksonville will exist listed, just you're not likely going to be able to connect if you're in Pittsburgh. Information technology gets even more disruptive when access points are named ATT488 instead of "AT&T Wifi on Start St."

If you give your phone a few seconds, or scroll downward and tell information technology to search again if yous're the impatient type, this view will let you know which access points are in range (and how strong the signal is based on the little icon) and which ones you lot accept saved merely are out of range. You're able to endeavour and connect to whatever access point that is in range. You can likewise delete quondam connections that you'll never want to use once again.

Notation that this may not be every access point in range. When you setup a Wifi network you're able to decide if the name is circulate and visible or non. If the SSID (don't worry, we're going to comprehend all those acronyms downward the page a bit) is not broadcast, it won't prove up in your list and y'all'll take to setup a connection manually.

Bones Wifi terminology (what do all those messages and numbers mean?)

Like anything that can become a little technical, when yous're discussing Wifi networks you're going to run into a lot of letters that represent something. People that develop this sort of matter hate typing long things like Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and so they shorten it to IEEE. Many of them are also a wee bit sadistic and like to mess with people. When you add those two things together, you'll terminate upwards with a long list of abbreviations and acronyms that normal folks like us need to look up then we know what the hell is going on. Here's a short list of the letters and numbers you're probable to meet, and what they hateful.

802.xi a/b/g/due north/ac — 802.11 refers to the IEEE 802.11 specifications for wireless networking on the 2.iv GHz, 3.six GHz, v GHz and lx GHz frequencies. Any device that's Wifi certified will follow these standards. The letter yous see later on stands for a specific protocol that determines things like range and speed. More often than not speaking (that means as far nosotros y'all, the layman is concerned), the "higher" the alphabetic character, the better the potential range and speed is. If you lot've got a newer phone, it probably supports at least through 802.11 n, and possible 802.eleven air-conditioning. Well-nigh modern access points will support them, besides.
Wifi — A trademarked (actually, information technology's trademarked) term for a slice of wireless LAN equipment that supports the IEEE 802.xi specification. It's a play on Hi-Fi, a term that stands for high fidelity and was popular for sound systems hundreds of years ago when Phil and I were teenagers. If you come across the word Wifi or WiFi or Wi-Fi on something, that ways it meets the standards and will piece of work with other equipment that bears the Wifi trademarked name. Believe information technology or not, there are counterfeits out at that place that don't meet things similar transmission power requirements. And you can purchase home-made devices that break a butt-load of laws to extend Wifi way down the street. I might have 1. None of these are going to exist Wifi certified.
Access point — an access betoken (when talking near Wifi) is a device that allows other Wifi devices to connect to a wireless network. It tin be a stand solitary device, or it can be arranged into one piece of equipment with a router, or even accept a modem added to it similar the one yous may take from your cable company.
SSID — The service set identifier. It's a human-readable string that tin be up to 32 bytes long, and used every bit the network name yous see in the list of Wifi access points on your telephone.
MAC address — Short for Media Access Command address, the MAC accost is a unique identifier assigned to any networking equipment by the manufacturer. On your phone, that means information technology's stored in the hardware for the Wifi radio itself. While a MAC address is assigned to the hardware and permanent, information technology'due south easy to spoof through software. But nosotros're not going to tell y'all how to practise that, because if yous have a legitimate need you already know how or who to enquire.
WPS — Wifi Protected Setup is a security standard designed to help home users have a secure wireless network without needing to adjust everything by hand. You need equipment that is uniform, and chances are your Android telephone or tablet will piece of work fine.
Wifi Directly — A means of getting i Android device to talk to another using Wifi, but avoiding having to go through an Access Point.

Secured Wifi vs. unsecured Wifi

No, not insecure which suggests a lack of proper security, only unsecured — a broad open network that anyone can connect to without any passwords or setup.

When you connect to Wifi at home or at work, or even at a friend's business firm, chances are you need to know the countersign you're asked for the very first time you lot connect from your Android. That's considering you lot are on a secured Wifi network. On the flip side, when you're walking down the street and can connect (or become connected automatically) to a Wifi network you have never used before, you're using an unsecured network. While the merits of securing your own Wifi network at home are best left for another article, know that having an unsecured Wifi network means I tin sit outside your house and use your Cyberspace to do things that aren't exactly legal. Or Google will connect when a Street View car drives by and polls the local AP's for location information.

You probably want to secure your Wifi network at abode. If you need assist setting up your router, jump into the forums and ask. Fifty-fifty though it's non Android-specific, everyone here at AC wants you to be safe on the Cyberspace.

That means you set an encrypted password on your admission betoken, and any and every device that wants to connect has to enter the aforementioned countersign for access. The security algorithm used for these connections may be WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), WPA (Wifi Protected Access) or WPA2 (a 2d generation and more than secure version of WPA). Similar everything else in the IEEE 802.11 specifications, security algorithms become revamped and improved. When security vulnerabilities were constitute in the WEP protocol, WPA was designed as a quick patch that all devices able to utilize WEP could also use. WPA2 came afterward, and is more secure, merely some very erstwhile equipment may not back up it.

Your phone supports WPA2 (as well every bit older standards and maybe even things like 802.1xEAP), and that'due south the suggested mode to secure whatever Wifi network. If you're setting up a Wifi network manually, you'll want to dig a picayune deeper into all the various security protocols and algorithms available, but generally using WPA2 with a strong AES encrypted key is accepted as condom.

What most WPS?

WPS stands for Wifi Protected Setup. The goal of WPS is to allow users who don't know a lot about wireless security to allow their hardware gear up things upwardly automatically. When it works, it's very easy and as secure as doing it by mitt. The issue is that different manufacturers have different ways of initiating WPS, and it's a little clunky.

There are four ways to use WPS to add together a device to a network — the push-button method, the PIN method, the NFC method and the USB method. NFC and USB are optional ways to set things upwardly, so your Wifi certified device may not support one or both. Android devices typically apply the Push Button or PIN method, but in theory could support NFC and USB as well.

To use WPS, y'all demand it enabled on the router you want to connect to. Most Android users volition and so push a button on their router, then cull WPS Push Button from the card if the Wifi settings. Alternatively, you can connect to your routers command console interface and ues the PIN method. Do notation that using a WPS PIN makes your network vulnerable to a very specific and very hard to perform brute-strength assail. If yous have access, and know how, disabling Pin access for WPS is a good idea.

Of course, using WPS makes your network vulnerable to any physical intrusion. If I can get into your living room, I tin can push button the push on your router or expect at the network properties on a Windows calculator and get the passphrase. (Never mind the other obvious implications.) So don't let anyone like me into your living room, 1000'kay?

If yous need to connect to a wireless network that doesn't broadcast it'due south SSID or requires special settings you will need to bring up the window to manually add a connectedness. In that location's nothing scary or complicated in here, but you will demand to know a few things about the network you're going to connect to. The person in charge of administering the network will take all the answers you need.

To connect to a SSID that'southward hidden, you simply enter the name of the network and cull the blazon of security it's using. The balance goes the same was every bit connecting to a network that's not hidden.

Under the advanced options setting (check the box and you lot'll see them) you take 2 new options: Proxy settings and IP settings. On Android, y'all will need to know the Proxy Hostname and port to setup a connection that uses ane. You can get that information from whoever setup the network. This only tells any spider web browser y'all're using to connect to the Internet through a dedicated infinite that can do things like block certain sites, or enshroud information that doesn't ofttimes get updated.

The IP settings are a little more than complicated, just again the person who fix up the network has all the answers you need to set a static IP.

The router you're connecting to may have a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server that assigns all the required network info automatically. If it doesn't, you'll need to enter the information by hand.

While you'll rarely ever need to set your IP address settings by hand, there's aught incorrect with knowing what you lot're seeing here. Let's break information technology down.

IP accost — This is the IP (Internet Protocol) address you lot want your Android to employ. Information technology has to be in the correct network range (private IPv4 networks typically utilize 10.0.0.X, 172.sixteen.0.Ten, or 192.168.X.X) and utilize an bachelor number. Remember — your network admin will tell you what to use here. Follow his or her instructions or you're not going to have a good time.
Gateway — This is the IP address of a network node that acts tin can deed as a router or proxy server both on the internal portion of the network as well as connecting it to the Internet-at-large. When yous type http://www.androidcentral.com into your browser, by default the request goes to the gateway which then directs the IP traffic then that Lloyd appears in your browseer window. Once again, your network admin will requite you this address, and if you lot don't enter information technology correctly you're not going to be able to do much of annihilation.
Network prefix length — This is the same thing as the subnet mask — a way to brand sure all devices on the network have the aforementioned network prefix. A router can be used to bridge two subnets together, but that sort of matter is a bit more avant-garde that what nosotros're going to cover here. For our purposes, unless your network admin tells you something different, the Network prefix length field should be 24, which equals a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.
DNS — You'll probably see two entries here, labeled one and 2. DNS is the Cyberspace'south phone book. DNS servers translate a URL that you and I tin can read, into an IP accost that computers can read more easily. There are different options you tin use here if you like. Google DNS is one, and OpenDNS is another. If you lot don't know what those are, simply use the numbers your network admin gives yous.

In one case you take everything filled in correct, press the connect button and you'll sign in and exist using that Wifi network.

This is one of those things that'south going to vary from device to device. We'll have a look at the settings and options you're most likely to see here, and pause them downward so we all know what they mean.

Wifi notifications — If you desire to see a notification telling you there is a Wifi network available (not a crazy thought with data caps in place), yous want this enabled.
Internet availability — A setting using these words usually means that the Wifi network must accept access to the Net before your Android volition connect to it. If this is disabled, you can connect to Wifi networks that do non have an active Internet connexion, like ones provided past Comcast for case. I'm kidding. Put those Xfinity pitchforks abroad.
List sorting — Here you can choose to encounter your Wifi network list past availability and signal strength or alphabetically. Choose signal forcefulness.
Keep Wifi on when screen is off — This does exactly what it says information technology does, simply the important part is knowing why you would desire it enabled or disabled. If you set Wifi to shut off when the screen goes off, you'll have to apply the cellular connection for any syncing or push messages. This uses more bombardment than Wifi. Unremarkably, you desire to keep Wifi on hither. If you have a reason to close Wifi downward when your telephone is idle, this is where you exercise information technology.
Allow Wifi scanning — This lets location services scan for active wireless access points to determine location. Doing and so can get your position quicker and draws less power than using GPS alone, but for the sake of privacy you can disable it here.
Avert poor connections — This switches you off of a Wifi network once the signal gets very weak. It volition either connect y'all to another Wifi network or dorsum to 3G / 4G when it stops the connection. I drawback is that networks with a weak point won't appear in your list of bachelor networks.
Battery saving while on Wifi — This setting really works! What information technology does is ho-hum downward or stop your wireless radio's network scanning. When your telephone actively scans for available connections, information technology uses more power. The ability to alter this setting is something that custom ROM builders have done since the G1, simply now most vendors include it right in the advanced menu settings. If you disabled Wifi scanning for location, y'all might equally well enable this and maximize every milliampere from your battery.
Your MAC address and IP address — The MAC address of your Wifi radio is built into the hardware (though information technology's possible to alter what's reported via software), and you may need information technology for things like setting a reserved IP accost in a DHCP server. That's where you'll find it. Likewise for your IP address — if you lot need to know it, this is a handy place to discover it. Normally, you'll never need to know either of these so there'due south no need to write annihilation down or effort to memorize it.

Your phone may accept other options that are easy to empathise, or the wording may be a little dissimilar that what we used here. But on most Androids, this is all the information you'll demand when things go advanced.

Remember, this isn't meant to be course material for the TCP/IP portion of the MCSE exam. This is only a basic caption of everything y'all're probable to encounter at one time or another while using Wifi on your Android.

While most of the fourth dimension y'all can just enter a countersign and go practice Cyberspace things, it'southward e'er a practiced thought to accept a lilliputian groundwork almost everything you're seeing.

Knowledge is power.

Jerry is an amateur woodworker and struggling shade tree mechanic. There's nil he can't accept autonomously, but many things he tin can't reassemble. You'll discover him writing and speaking his loud opinion on Android Fundamental and occasionally on Twitter.