What are wi-fi networks?

A wi-fi network is like a radio that lets your phone or computer talk to the internet without wires.

Imagine you have a toy telephone, and instead of a cord, it uses sound waves to chat with another toy phone across the room. That’s kind of how wi-fi networks work, but for grown-up phones and computers.

A router is like the main speaker in this radio system. It sends out signals that your devices can catch, just like you catch sound waves from your toy phone. When your tablet or phone catches those signals, it can talk to the internet, sending messages back and forth, like playing a game of telephone with the whole world.

Without wi-fi networks, you’d have to plug in cords everywhere, like connecting your computer to a wall just to surf the internet. But with wi-fi, you can walk around the house or even sit outside and still be connected, it’s like having a radio that follows you wherever you go!