Labware Bluetooth POS versus Wifi – why you should be worried about a wifi pos system

Wifi is a commonly used communications system for PC based wireless pos systems however there is a lot of dissatisfaction with Wifi communications in commercial, retail and hospitality environments.

Wifi as a communications system has been talked up because of its low price and supposedly tight security, yet security of the system is not what causes most issues for Wifi users in a POS environment.

Wifi has a lot of downside in terms of other factors that influence it’s performance levels apart  from security, although security can be a major issue for those restaurants and cafes that allow their wifi systems to be used as wireless hotspots.

You can easily make a Wifi network secure with a complex 16 digit password, and as along as you are not providing free wifi to customers on the same network then you will most likely be able to prevent illegal access to the network.

Security aside, what are the main issues that cause so many headaches for Wifi user in Point-of-Sales environments?

1.  Availability of Wifi Service

Anyone who is familiar with using wifi in a home or business environment will know, performance of wifi networks are not constantly high. The performance fluctuates based on the signal strength your Wifi device is achieving. If signal strength is high then you will get a good response from the wifi network. If signal strength degrades then your performance goes down. This ‘highs’ & ‘lows’ scenario happens constantly with wifi networks and is the bane of, in particular, commercial users as long periods of low signal can effectively bring a Wifi network to a grinding halt.

2.  Signal Strength

Why does Wifi signal strength fluctuate so much? The reason is simple – interference. Wifi networks are constantly being asked questions by wifi devices that come within their range.

“Can I connect with you?”, is the common question that a Wifi network is constantly being asked. In a POS environment there can be literally hundreds of devices that may be asking that question every few minutes. In a restaurant setting there are customers with smart phones and wireless tablets activated. There are people out on the street and sitting in cars whose devices are looking for Wifi networks they can connect to.

And then there are devices activated in adjacent offices and stores that will also be asking the question of whether or not your network can be utilised for Wifi access. As more and more devices come within range and interrogate your network for access, the more requests your network has to handle that are not related to its main job, which is to run your POS system and restaurant. As more connection requests are being handled, signal strength drops dramatically and the network becomes overloaded. This type of overloading of the network cannot be prevented easily, as it is basically unintentional.

There is however another more sinister form of Wifi signal loss that can be caused by individuals who for whatever reason decide to intentionally bring down a Wifi wireless network. They create what is called a DOS attack – or, a denial of service attack. In this scenario an individual activates a small wifi jammer somewhere within range of your POS wifi network and immediately your wifi service is shut down. The attackers may not actually be targeting your network, however you can get caught in the crossfire, an innocent bystander in someone’s malicious prank.

A third type of interference is non-device related, and can be caused by electrical leakages from certain types of lighting, electrical and communications wiring, marginally faulty electrical equipment, microwave ovens, dishwashers and other appliances, cordless telephones, excessive steelwork within wall partitioning, and many other possibilities.

Any of these issues will diminish signal strength, slow down your POS system and perhaps even bring it to a grinding halt.

3. Power consumption

Wifi devices such as hand held ordering devices consume a lot of power – up to 40 times more than a Bluetooth Class 1 Handheld ordering device. Which means that Wifi hand held devices have a much shorter battery life and spend more time on the charger.

How does Labware’s Class 1 Bluetooth perform in a POS environment?

1. Security

A Labware Class 1 Bluetooth wireless network can also be made extremely secure as Bluetooth devices within a network have to be paired together using a complex password and once paired they take on a “cloaking” mode that  effectively makes the Bluetooth network and its devices invisible to any other  random Bluetooth devices.

2. Availability of  Service & Signal Strength

Labware’s Class 1 Bluetooth POS system does not suffer from the same issues that a Wifi network does for the following reasons.

First, as described above, the Class 1 Bluetooth network is invisible to other devices, and therefore does not have to entertain constant requests for pairing or connection.

Secondly, Class 1 Bluetooth employs a trick called Frequency Hopping – which means the Bluetooth paired device constantly changes the frequency (79 times per second) that they send and receive data on. Only the paired devices know what the frequencies will be each time they change.

This makes it impossible for any other devices to interfere with the Bluetooth signal. If a Bluetooth hand held ordering terminal sends some transactional data to the main POS terminal and doesn’t immediately get confirmation that the data has been successfully received, the hand held device will instantly change to a new prearranged frequency and send the data again. And it will keep doing this until it receives confirmation that it has been successful.

Of course this happens very, very quickly, but serves the purpose of preventing any interference from stopping the transfer of data across the network. This makes it impossible for DOS jammers or any device or faulty electrical equipment to interfere with the Bluetooth data signal, as the Class 1 Bluetooth network never remains long enough on one frequency for there to be a problem.

3. Power Consumption

Bluetooth wireless handheld devices use  40 times less battery power than a comparable Wifi hand held ordering device. Which means that Bluetooth Nano handheld devices from Labware typically have 48 hours of usage. Meaning less time spent on chargers and more time out on the restaurant floor where they are supposed to be.

Labware Class 1 Bluetooth networks now boast a range of up to 420 metres between paired devices, while maintaining strong signal strength and without any increase in battery usage.