• @[email protected]
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    1468 months ago

    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.

      • @[email protected]
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        8 months ago

        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.

          • @[email protected]
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            28 months ago

            Well, it wasn’t the best joke to begin with. I doubt anyone gave it more than a …ha… when they read it.

            Do you?

            Did you?

            • @[email protected]
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              8 months ago

              I bet you’re every comedian’s favorite heckler at the comedy club.

              It’s a joke, not a cock - don’t take it so deep. If it’s not funny, glance over it and move on. Like Don Quixote tilting at mediocrely humored windmills.

              • @[email protected]
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                18 months ago

                Hey, fair enough, dont really heckle comedians. Its their show, unless its something they actively seek in their audience, i wouldn’t think about it.

                I didnt mean to over analyse the joke, i just asked a question about the synonimity of WiFi and mobile data and was challenged on the intent behind the use of the word WiFi, so i responded with my take on what was intended. It wasn’t to ruin the joke. It was to validate my question about the use of WiFi when i believe they meant mobile data.

                Frankly you are the one who made it about ruining the joke.

    • @[email protected]
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      128 months ago

      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

    • @[email protected]
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      98 months ago

      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”.

    • @[email protected]
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      88 months ago

      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.

      • Transporter Room 3
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        28 months ago

        This is my wife.

        She calls mobile data “wifi”

        She calls the internet “the wifi” when talking about our specific connection. “is the wifi bill paid yet” even when talking about the internet on my ethernet connections, it’s still “the wifi”

      • Baŝto
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        18 months ago

        wifi and wlan are also not exactly the same

    • @[email protected]
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      68 months ago

      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.