XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-10, alt.comp.microsoft.windows   
   From: mariasophia@comprehension.com   
      
   Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:   
   > You will have to find out why the switch was there in the very very   
   > beginning! Who said it's needed? Something to do with the early history   
   > of 802.11 technology?   
   >   
   > Strangely, you don't find the same ON-OFF switch among USB and PCIe   
   > wireless gadgets for desktop PCs. :)   
      
   Taking this more seriously, I suspect a key reason WiFi devices have a   
   physical on-off switch has nothing to do with modern security advice.   
      
   It likely goes back to the early history of 802.11 when power consumption   
   and RF interference were real problems on laptops.   
      
   1. Early WiFi chipsets drew a lot of power, so laptops needed a hardware   
      switch to save battery life.   
      
   2. Early 802.11 radios could interfere with other devices, so vendors   
      added a quick way to disable the transmitter without removing drivers.   
      
   3. Regulatory rules in some regions required a hardware method to disable   
      the RF section during flights or in restricted areas.   
      
   I suspect that is why the switch exists. Perhaps we can consider it a   
   legacy hardware control that stuck around after the original reasons faded.   
      
   USB and PCIe WiFi adapters do not need a physical switch because the host   
   can fully power them down in software. Laptops maybe kept the switch   
   because it was already part of the design and users were accustomed to it.   
      
   So perhaps the switch is not there because we must turn WiFi off every day.   
   It is perhaps there because early 802.11 hardware needed a manual RF kill   
   switch, and the design persisted even after the technology improved.   
      
   Dunno. But that is my off-the-cuff first "serious" attempt (i.e., no longer   
   just joking) at answering the question posed as to why the on/off is there.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)