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Network Infrastructure Magazine | Friday, May 27, 2022
Aside from more spectrums, Wi-Fi upgrades will prioritize connection speed, congestion reduction, interoperability, and new devices connecting to a local network or the Internet.
FREMONT, CA: Most people are familiar with the wireless icon symbol on a computer or smartphone that indicates a successful wireless LAN connection. Still, few are familiar with the history of Wi-Fi technology.
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Surprisingly, Wi-Fi was originally used to promote and support interoperability between wireless LAN systems rather than the technology itself. Wi-Fi was never a shortened version of wireless fidelity; it was simply a play on the word hi-fi (high fidelity), a tribute to high-quality audio technology.
The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance, which later became the Wi-Fi Alliance, coined the term "Wi-Fi."
Wirelessly connecting personal computer network adapter cards and access points connected computers to broadband Internet. Before wireless, network connections on a LAN or Internet were made using either wired Ethernet or modem connections over a telephone line.
As technology advanced and networking vendors began manufacturing wireless products, the Wi-Fi certification program and its logo informed consumers that one consequence would work with another. However, as the technology progressed beyond 802.11b and became more prevalent on millions of devices, Wi-Fi was referred to as general wireless LAN technology rather than interoperability certification.
Wi-Fi, in general, refers to wireless LAN technologies that communicate using the IEEE 802.11 standards. Wi-Fi products use radio waves to send data from a client device to an access point, including a router, and the router connects to other devices on the LAN, WAN, or the Internet.
Initially, the technology operated at 2.4 GHz, but it has since expanded to 5 GHz, 60 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency bands. (HomeRF, a competing standard, also supported wireless connections, but vendors and customers eventually chose Wi-Fi and the 802.11 protocols as the wireless standard.)
Aside from Computers and Routers
One of the reasons for the technology's success is the exponential growth of devices that can be equipped with Wi-Fi, such as home appliances, TVs, video game consoles, and smart watches, to name a few. In addition, the low cost, powerful performance, and dependability of Wi-Fi products have contributed to the Internet of things (IoT) growth.
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