​The terms "mobile" and “wireless" are often used interchangeably but in reality, they are two very different concepts applied to modern computing and technology.

Mobile is a word that is commonly used to describe portable devices. A mobile device is one that is made to be taken anywhere. Therefore, it needs an internal battery for power, and must be connected to a modern mobile network that can help it to send and receive data without attaching to a hardware infrastructure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wireless, on the other hand, does not mean mobile. Traditional computers or other non-mobile devices can access wireless networks. One very common example is the use of a localized browser product in a local area network (LAN), where the router takes what used to be a cabled interaction and makes it wireless. Other kinds of wireless networks called wide area networks (WAN) can even use components of 3G or 4G wireless systems made specifically for mobile devices, but that doesn’t mean that the devices on these networks are mobile. They may still be plugged in or require proximity to a router or network node.

Mobile and wireless systems really accomplish two very different things. While a wireless system provides a fixed or portable endpoint with access to a distributed network, a mobile system offers all of the resources of that distributed network to something that can go anywhere, barring any issues with local reception or technical area coverage.