Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

What is the difference when the "4G" symbol and "o)))" symbol come up on my smartphone?

Does the "4G" denote cellular data? Does the "o)))" denote Wi-Fi? What's the difference? I tried reading Wikipedia articles on this, but I still don't understand. So, can someone explain to me in layman's terms?

3 Answers

Relevance
  • 3 days ago

    4G (sometimes labeled as LTE) is the type of cellular service your phone is connected to.  They show this on the display because you may be connecting to cellular service types other than 4G.  Usually there is a symbol associated with the signal strength of the cellular signal that is a series of four lines, the one on the far left being the shortest progressing to the longest one being on the far right.  This symbol indicates how "good" or "strong" the cellular service is at your current location.  If all the lines are "dark" than you have good signal strength, if some of the lines are grayed than you have less than ideal signal strength.

    WiFi signal strength is universally displayed as a series of three or four curved lines that look sort of like a fan.  There is a very short line or dot at the bottom, a slightly longer line one above it and a yet a longer one above that.   The WiFi signal strength symbol works similar to cellular signal strength symbol. 

    WiFi and cellular are two completely different technologies.  WiFi is intended to be used over very short distances, it's considered a "local area" network technology.  "Local area" means a defined space like a single building or single room in a building.  WiFi is not intended to cover areas larger than about 1000 square feet.

    Cellular is a "wide area" technology, meaning it's intended to support large areas, areas measured in square miles vs square feet.  

    Each has its advantages and disadvantages.  For WiFi it is much faster than cellular and generally speaking is "free" (where free is a relative term).  Cellular is what you pay for with the monthly smart phone contract.

  • 5 days ago

    4G is cell service, the other is Wifi you are connected to locally. 

  • Anonymous
    5 days ago

    It is telling you 4g data speeds are available on the cell tower

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.