Li-Fi is an interesting piece of technology which is solves some of the downsides of WiFi, namely coverage and range. With WiFi, this is largely dictated by things like your router’s hardware and strength, whether or not there are walls or doors that might be blocking the WiFi signal, and so on.
However it seems that Li-Fi is slowly starting to catch on as Philips has recently announced that they have started testing out the technology in Paris in a small pilot program. For those unfamiliar with Li-Fi technology, it basically uses light to transmit internet, so essentially as long as you’re within an illuminated area, you will have internet.
Like we said, this does away with one of WiFi’s problems where users might have to resort to buying extenders or creating a mesh network. Philips’ interest in Li-Fi isn’t new as the company acquired Luciom last year, a French company that integrates broadband internet into lighting. Given that Philips is also known for their lighting products (amongst other things), it makes perfect sense.
The company already dabbles in smart lighting products like the Hue, so we wouldn’t be surprised if future Hue bulbs could also provide internet coverage. Philips is also not alone in this, but when exactly Li-Fi will catch on and become the new standard remains to be seen.
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