The Evolution of Internet Networks, From cables to Li-Fi and Starlink

By :- Mostafa Amin

The internet at its beginnings at 1960s was a military communicating network in 

US called “ARPANET” (the Advanced Research Project Agency Network). By 

the time companies, universities and even normal people could have access to the 

internet. It was very difficult to search for information on the internet until Tim 

Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (WWW) which is now the most 

common mean for accessing data and information online on the form of websites 

and hyperlinks. To connect and have access to the internet, you needed cables 

connected to your computers. Until the invention of wireless networks came.

Wi-Fi

In 1999 several companies came together to develop a wireless network to 

transmit data and provide internet. it was announced in 2000 as Wi-Fi alliance. 

Wi-Fi wireless network depends on the idea of radio waves, like cell-phones and 

other devices that we use in our daily life. a transmitter that transmits waves, and a receiver that receives this radio waves. That creates a network that provide the 

internet within 20 to 50 meters. Instead of these wires connected to your device,

you could move with your laptop with no wires attached to it. It was like magic

then. Nowadays, most of us use Wi-Fi as the method to access the internet and to 

transfer data.

Like everything Wi-Fi also has disadvantage. it tends to be unsecure for its wide 

range allow others within this range to access the network, even if it’s protected 

by a password some people try to hack it and gain access to the network. Also, 

Wi-Fi signals can be unreliable, as the radio frequency can be affected by external 

factors which provide slower service. In addition Wi-Fi connection is slower than 

wired connection, its speed ranged from 1 mb/s to 54 mb/s while wired 

connection provide speed up to 100 mb/s or even higher.

Li-Fi

Li-Fi (Light Fidelity) is a technology that takes advantage of the visible light of 

LED bulbs instead of radio waves to create a wireless network for data 

transmission and providing internet. It has many advantages.

Advantages:

• It is efficient as the LED bulbs can make the user consume less energy as 

Li-Fi only require a working LED light. 

• High speed, it can be up to 100 times faster than Wi-Fi as the light moves 

at extremely fast speeds. 

• It is secure as it’s ranged in about 10 meters and the light can’t go through 

walls, that means as long as you are in a closed room no one can access 

your network. 

• It can be used in airlines, undersea explorations, operation theaters in the 

hospitals, besides providing internet.Disadvantage:

• It is in its introductory stage therefore it needs more time to improve the 

drawbacks in its infrastructure.

• As it depends on light to create the wireless network, the light bulb need 

to be on to continue providing the internet. This can be solved by dimming 

the light to levels that seem to the human eye turned of but still providing 

the connection.

• Photodiodes can pick up light from other resources other than the 

transmitter which cause noise and disruption in the network. This 

problem could be solved by installing an optical filter so that the 

photodiode only pick up light from the transmitter.

• The short range of its network, it operates within 10 meters. Therefore,

the user have to stay within this range. This could be solved by setting

multiple Li-Fi devices in a large space.

As the consumption of wireless networks increase every year by 60%, the radio 

waves of Wi-Fi becomes slower. Therefore, another speed network is needed, Li￾Fi is expected to be that speed network. Li-Fi companies are working hard to 

satisfy the demand of high internet speed and be the future of internet. it is 

expected to be released to the public by 2022. 

Starlink

Starlink is a space x project that provide internet access anywhere around the 

globe via satellites at very high speed that could reach 1 GB/s. it’s planned that 

its service reach north US and Canada in 2020 and the rest of the globe in 2021.

The internet and the telecommunication world is evolving every day with an 

incredible manner to reach things that we couldn’t even imagine. What else would 

the humanity achieve at the future?