Claim: Nikola Tesla worked on telecommunication technology.

Wireless communication , or sometimes simply wireless , is the transfer of information or power between two or more points that are not connected by an electrical conductor . The most common wireless technologies use radio waves . With radio waves distances can be short , such as a few meters for television or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications . It encompasses various types of fixed , mobile , and portable applications , including two-way radios , cellular telephones , personal digital assistants -LRB- PDAs -RRB- , and wireless networking . Other examples of applications of radio wireless technology include GPS units , garage door openers , wireless computer mice , keyboards and headsets , headphones , radio receivers , satellite television , broadcast television and cordless telephones .   Somewhat less common methods of achieving wireless communications include the use of other electromagnetic wireless technologies , such as light , magnetic , or electric fields or the use of sound . The term wireless has been used twice in communications history , with slightly different meaning . It was initially used from about 1890 for the first radio transmitting and receiving technology , as in wireless telegraphy , until the new word radio replaced it around 1920 . The term was revived in the 1980s and 1990s mainly to distinguish digital devices that communicate without wires , such as the examples listed in the previous paragraph , from those that require wires or cables . This became its primary usage in the 2000s , due to the advent of technologies such as LTE , LTE-Advanced , Wi-Fi and Bluetooth .   Wireless operations permit services , such as long-range communications , that are impossible or impractical to implement with the use of wires . The term is commonly used in the telecommunications industry to refer to telecommunications systems -LRB- e.g. radio transmitters and receivers , remote controls , etc. -RRB- which use some form of energy -LRB- e.g. radio waves , acoustic energy , -RRB- to transfer information without the use of wires . Information is transferred in this manner over both short and long distances .