Wi-Fi vs. Cellular Data

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi, which is not short for Wireless Fidelity, actually doesn’t stand for anything. It’s simply the term that the Wi-Fi Alliance chose to represent this wireless networking technology.

“Wi-Fi,” which is the only accepted spelling of the term, is what your iPhone likely uses to connect to the Internet when you’re home and at any number of indoor and sometimes outdoor venues that provide a wireless network to which you connect. It’s also necessary to share items directly to other devices via AirDrop.

In most cases, you just need to know the network name (sometimes called SSID, which stands for “service set identifier”) and its password (a.k.a. “network key”). Once you’ve connected one time, your device stores the password for future connections.

Wi-Fi is generally a low-latency technology, only bested by wired connections. That means it doesn’t take long for your device to connect to a remote server.

Importantly, though, Wi-Fi only works up to a certain distance away from an access point. Signals are also weakened by various types of interference, such as walls & ceilings, metal, large appliances, other types of devices that compete on the same frequency, etc.

Cellular Data

When you leave the domain of a wireless network or there’s too much interference, your device disconnects. In other words, Wi-Fi is not available to your device everywhere you go. For Internet access in other locales, your iPhone likely has a cellular data plan.

I’ve written more than once about cellular data related to travel, such as in Phone Travel, but not how you use it closer to home. Depending on cellular reception where you are, cellular data enables your iPhone to connect to Internet-based apps and services when Wi-Fi is not available. However, cellular Internet connections often have higher latency.

Your data plan may be unlimited or limited to a certain volume of usage, usually measured in gigabytes, during your billing period. For example, my $25/month Visible cellphone plan offers unlimited data, whereas a competing $15/month plan from Mint Mobile is limited to 5GB of data.

Need Much Data?

Do you actually need a lot of data? I switched to Visible before my cross-country bike tour because I thought that I would need a lot of data while I was taking photos and less frequently on Wi-Fi.

If most of your iPhone usage is at home, in an office, or in other places where you connect to Wi-Fi, cellular data is probably not very important. However, if you frequently visit locations with limited or nonexistent Wi-Fi access but good cellular reception and need consistent access to the Internet, such as when traveling, you may need more than the minimum.

Are you thinking of switching to a less expensive plan? Here’s one way to estimate your cellular data needs:

1. Open Settings > Cellular
2. Scroll to the very bottom and tap Reset Statistics
3. In 1–3 months, return to this screen, review your cellular data usage during the “Current Period,” and average it out as necessary

Based on this analysis, you may be able to decide on a cellular data plan that’s best for you and pay less for service. Let me know if you need more help with this research.

Are You On Wi-Fi?

When asked if you are on Wi-Fi, the question is not whether you are connected to the Internet by any means. Take a look at your iPhone status bar (at the top of the screen) and look for the Wi-Fi indicator: .

If it’s there, you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network. If not, you may be on cellular (indicated 4G, LTE, 5G, or similar) or on a personal hotspot (indicated by ).

You can visit Control Center or Settings to see if Wi-Fi is off or to connect to an available network.