Is it now the norm to make the term WiFi synonymous with the term cellular/mobile data (or 4g/5g)
They are not the same thing.
Is this like when people call tablets ipads? Or call vacuums hoovers/dysons.
There is a term, that I am too lazy to search, that when a brand or technology is so widespread or used, that the name of the brand or technology becomes the word used to describe anything that ressemble that brand or technology.
Wi-Fi and iPads are definitely some of those.
I know people who don’t know what an Ethernet cable is.
Internet = wifi / mobile data. And that’s it as far as they are concerned
Routers, modems, switches, bandwidth, Ethernet etc. That’s all just mysterious mumbo jumbo nerd shit. They only know that wifi = the symbol on their phone and that it makes their apps load. It’s crazy.
I’d say these examples are different, more like Kleenex where brand names become the common term. This is more like when parents used to buy a Wii game for your “playbox station”.
I think they specifically mean Wi-Fi, not confusing it with cellular.
I would be surprised too if I went into a cave and suddenly my phone is connected to Wi-Fi. Where are the access points? Who is running internet all the way out here? I don’t see any telco boxes or signs of a human presence. Why do the speeds get faster the farther I go? Why did my phone connect to some random network when I specifically told it not to do that? It would be even weirder if it’s WPA3 protected or something because I obviously don’t have the password for the cave Wi-Fi
Well, that sort of highlights my issue and why i assume they meant mobile data. If they are, in the joke, connected to WiFi, then they wouldn’t be surprised by the signal strength. Because they are near a router and therfore the signal is good enough to use. You aren’t typically able to connect to WiFi if the signal is below -70 -80 decibels.
I think its fairly clear that they meant mobile data as this is something you would be surprised to still have if you were lost in a cave.
Not that i wouldn’t be surprised to find WiFi down there, just that i wouldn’t be surprised by the strength of the WiFi signal if i was standing close enough to a router to see the SSID.
