Although the Start screen may be Windows 8’s
most visible feature, pervasive networking has seen the greatest
improvements in this new operating system. Mobility means that users
expect to be connected from anywhere and to anything. Microsoft’s
solution for Windows 8 adds new forms of Wi-Fi and broadband
connectivity, metered connections, and network switching and
prioritization.
This is bits and bytes that only übergeeks
appreciate, but the effect on your everyday laptop, tablet, or phone is
that Microsoft offers customers industry-leading connectivity in a
simple-to-use interface that won’t take you long to learn.
Windows has the following connection priority order:
1. Ethernet is
connected first since it is hard-wired to a router or network hub and
is assumed to be faster and cheaper than wireless connections.
2. Wi-Fi networks are connected next.
3. Mobile broadband is connected last.
The reason for this order lies in the
assumption that Ethernet is your fastest and cheapest connection, Wi-Fi
is slower and may cost more, and mobile broadband connections such as
3G and 4G are expensive and may be metered.
Windows 8 handles Wi-Fi in this manner:
• It lists all Wi-Fi networks that are currently within range in order of their signal strength.
• When you connect to a Wi-Fi network, Windows 8 stays connected to that Wi-Fi network whenever it is in range.
• Should you connect to a second Wi-Fi network, Windows 8 connects to that network first whenever it is in range.
Connections to mobile broadband networks are handled a little strangely, although it makes perfect sense if you think about it.
With mobile broadband:
• When you manually connect to a mobile
broadband network and there are Wi-Fi networks in range, you stay
connected to the mobile broadband network for as long as the session
(connection) lasts.
• When you are disconnected from mobile broadband, you are reconnected to a Wi-Fi network.
Again, it is assumed that your mobile broadband connection is both expensive and metered.
Tip
When you are connected to a Wi-Fi network and
you prefer to force Windows 8 to connect to mobile broadband, open the
Wi-Fi Networks list and click the Disconnect button. Windows won’t
connect to that Wi-Fi network again automatically. You can also hide a
network by selecting the Forget This Network command in the network’s
context menu.
Tip
Windows 8 comes with a feature that turns off all radio devices: airplane mode.
