A Local Area Network on LAN for short was first proposed sometime around the year 1993. It was not termed as Wireless Hotspot until much later, but there was an understanding of how this tech could go wireless. They just called it Wireless LAN. As an engineering student myself, I can’t even begin listing how many times WLAN has come in handy for me. And I’m sure it has come to the rescue of almost all students in general. Don’t know what I’m talking about?

Ok let’s begin by understanding how a WLAN or a hotspot actually works because most of you might start using it less after the 31st. At the risk of sounding like your run off the mill computer science nerd, I’m going to talk about the infrastructure of these networks. Right off the bat, there are 3 main types of WLAN infrastructures,

1) Ad Hoc or P2P: 

 In this structure, a network has stations which communicate only peer to peer. In a Wi-Fi P2P group, the group owner operates as an access point and all other devices are clients. This usually works out when the devices are in close range of the transmitting network. 

2) Bridge: 

A wireless Ethernet bridge allows the connection of devices on a wired Ethernet network to a wireless network. The bridge acts as the connection point to the Wireless LAN. 

3) Wireless Distribution System:

This system allows wireless interconnection between various source providers. Connections between clients is made by using MAC addresses instead of IP assignments. This requires all the base stations to be tuned into the same radio frequency or channel and share a password if equipped. This system is usually used in router to router configurations where each base point works to amplify or extend the signal input.

Still don’t see how hotspots help you as a student? A few examples maybe will help, 

Notes are essential to any student life and realistically and not all students, let’s say, are eager to write during a lecture. One revolutionary method our generation has taken up to bypass this note taking tradition is by taking pictures or scanned pdfs from the poor souls who are attentive enough. Yes, the time of the Xerox copies is a thing of the past. The future is now old man. But there’s one tiny problem. The transfer of these files from person to person. Admittedly, we could still use services like a messenger to send or receive these images but, one way better alternative is to use applications on your mobile like Xender, ShareIt etc. which work on creating a local hotspot using your phones inbuilt tethering service to transfer files without ever using the internet. This mechanism allows for very high speeds which we all love.

Let’s be honest here, almost everyone of us has been guilty of asking that one friend with unlimited 4g data pack to just leave his WiFi-hotspot on for hours on end just so that we can have our Facebook feed popping all during the day. In the settings of your Android phone, you can actually set the no. of users that can connect to your tethered hotspot and also control the bandwidth. (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz)

In our addiction to have competitive gaming possible at all possible time and place, game developers have built in certain mechanics to satisfy our need to assert dominance, however stupid that dominance might seem. Some common games which use a local hotspot to give competitive player vs player experience are Mini Militia, Badlands, Crossy Road and few arcade games like Chess and Checkers. And who can deny major league WLAN gaming like Dota2 and CounterStrike events which include hundreds of gamers to be on the same platform to improve the competitive atmosphere on the whole.

Even the messaging apps have begun rolling out local texting, or offline chat as they like to call it, which pretty much uses the same concept of a local WLAN to allow transfer of everything from messages, pictures and movies right from your conversation screen. Although this might seem trivial, who wouldn’t take up an opportunity to reduce on data usage once the free internet dies off.