The name of a popular wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to pr

ovide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections. The Wi-Fi Alliance,
the organization that owns the Wi-Fi (registered trademark) term specifically de
fines Wi-Fi as any "wireless local area network (WLAN) products that are based o
n the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards
."
Initially, Wi-Fi was used in place of only the 2.4GHz 802.11b standard, however
the Wi-Fi Alliance has expanded the generic use of the Wi-Fi term to include any
type of network or WLAN product based on any of the 802.11 standards, including
802.11b, 802.11a, dual-band, and so on, in an attempt to stop confusion about w
ireless LAN interoperability.
Wi-Fi works with no physical wired connection between sender and receiver by usi
ng radio frequency (RF) technology, a frequency within the electromagnetic spect
rum associated with radio wave propagation. When an RF current is supplied to an
antenna, an electromagnetic field is created that then is able to propagate thr
ough space. The cornerstone of any wireless network is an access point (AP). The
primary job of an access point is to broadcast a wireless signal that computer
s can detect and "tune" into. In order to connect to an access point and join a
wireless network, computers and devices must be equipped with wireless network a
dapters (See "How Wireless Networks Work" in the "Did You Know..." section of We
bopedia).
Wi-Fi is supported by many applications and devices including video game consol
es, home networks, PDAs, mobile phones, major operating systems, and other types
of consumer electronics. Any products that are tested and approved as "Wi-Fi C
ertified" (a registered trademark) by the Wi-Fi Alliance are certified as intero
perable with each other, even if they are from different manufacturers. For exam
ple, a user with a Wi-Fi Certified product can use any brand of access point wit
h any other brand of client hardware that also is also "Wi-Fi Certified". Produc
ts that pass this certification are required to carry an identifying seal on the
ir packaging that states "Wi-Fi Certified" and indicates the radio frequency ban
d used (2.5GHz for 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n, and 5GHz for 802.11a).
A common misconception is that the term Wi-Fi is short for "wireless fidelity,"
however this is not the case. Wi-Fi is simply a trademarked term meaning IEEE 80
2.11x.

A wireless network or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) serves the same purpose
as a wired one to link a group of computers. Because "wireless" doesn't require
costly wiring, the main benefit is that it's generally easier, faster and cheap
er to set up.
By comparison, creating a network by pulling wires throughout the walls and ceil
ings of an office can be labor-intensive and thus expensive. But even when you h
ave a wired network already in place, a wireless network can be a cost-effective
way to expand or augment it. In fact, there's really no such thing as a purely
wireless network, because most link back to a wired network at some point.
The Basics
Wireless networks operate using radio frequency (RF) technology, a frequency wit
hin the electromagnetic spectrum associated with radio wave propagation. When an
RF current is supplied to an antenna, an electromagnetic field is created that
then is able to propagate through space.
The cornerstone of a wireless network is a device known as an access point (AP).
The primary job of an access point is to broadcast a wireless signal that compu
ters can detect and "tune" into. Since wireless networks are usually connected t
o wired ones, an access point also often serves as a link to the resources avail
able on the a wired network, such as an Internet connection.
In order to connect to an access point and join a wireless network, computers mu
st be equipped with wireless network adapters. These are often built right into
the computer, but if not, just about any computer or notebook can be made wirele
ss-capable through the use of an add-on adapter plugged into an empty expansion
slot, USB port, or in the case of notebooks, a PC Card slot.
Key Terms To Understanding Wireless Networks:
* WLAN
* radio frequency
* access point
* network adapter
* 802.11x
* WEP
* WPA
* WPA2
Related Articles on Webopedia:
* Wireless Networking Standards
* The Differences Between WEP and WPA
* The Differences Between Hubs, Switches and Routers
Wireless Technology Standards
Because there are multiple technology standards for wireless networking, it pays
to do your homework before buying any equipment. The most common wireless techn
ology standards include the following:
* 802.11b: The first widely used wireless networking technology, known as 80
2.11b (more commonly called Wi-Fi), first debuted almost a decade ago, but is st
ill in use.
* 802.11g: In 2003, a follow-on version called 802.11g appeared offering gre
ater performance (that is, speed and range) and remains today's most common wire
less networking technology.
* 802.11n: Another improved standard called 802.11n is currently under devel
opment and is scheduled to be complete in 2009. But even though the 802.11n stan
dard has yet to be finalized, you can still buy products based on the draft 802.
11n standard, which you will be able to upgrade later to the final standard.
All of the Wi-Fi variants (802.11b, g and n products) use the same 2.4 GHz radio
frequency, and as a result are designed to be compatible with each other, so yo
u can usually use devices based on the different standards within the same wirel
ess network. The catch is that doing so often requires special configuration to
accommodate the earlier devices, which in turn can reduce the overall performanc
e of the network. In an ideal scenario you.ll want all your wireless devices.the
access point and all wireless-capable computers.to be using the same technology
standard and to be from the same vendor whenever possible.
Speed & Range
When you buy a piece of wireless network hardware, it will often quote performan
ce figures (i.e., how fast it can transmit data) based on the type of wireless n
etworking standard it uses, plus any added technological enhancements. In truth
, these performance figures are almost always wildly optimistic.
While the official speeds of 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n networks are 11, 54,
and 270 megabits per second (Mbps) respectively, these figures represent a scena
rio that.s simply not attainable in the real world. As a general rule, you shoul
d assume that in a best-case scenario you.ll get roughly one-third of the advert
ised performance.
It's also worth noting that a wireless network is by definition a shared network
, so the more computers you have connected to a wireless access point the less d
ata each will be able to send and receive. Just as a wireless network's speed ca
n vary greatly, so too can the range. For example, 802.11b and g officially work
over a distance of up to 328 feet indoors or 1,312 feet outdoors, but the key t
erm there is "up to". Chances are you won't see anywhere close to those numbers.
As you might expect, the closer you are to an access point, the stronger the sig
nal and the faster the connection speed. The range and speed you get out of wire
less network will also depend on the kind of environment in which it operates. A
nd that brings us to the subject of interference.
Interference
Interference is an issue with any form of radio communication, and a wireless ne
twork is no exception. The potential for interference is especially great indoor
s, where different types of building materials (concrete, wood, drywall, metal,
glass and so on) can absorb or reflect radio waves, affecting the strength and c
onsistency of a wireless network's signal. Similarly, devices like microwave ove
ns and some cordless phones can cause interference because they operate in the s
ame 2.4 frequency range as 802.11b/g/n networks. You can't avoid interference en
tirely, but in most cases it's not significant enough to affect the usability of
the network. When it does, you can usually minimize the interference by relocat
ing wireless networking hardware or using specialized antennas.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Minimizing 802.11 Interference Issues on Wi-Fi Planet.
Data Security
In the same way that all you need to pick up a local radio station is a radio, a
ll anyone needs to detect a wireless network within nearby range is a wireless-e
quipped computer. There's no way to selectively hide the presence of your networ
k from strangers, but you can prevent unauthorized people from connecting to it,
and you can protect the data traveling across the network from prying eyes. By
turning on a wireless network's encryption feature, you can scramble the data an
d control access to the network.
Wireless network hardware supports several standard encryption schemes, but the
most common are Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), an
d Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2). WEP is the oldest and least secure method and
should be avoided. WPA and WPA2 are good choices, but provide better protection
when you use longer and more complex passwords (all devices on a wireless netwo
rk must use the same kind of encryption and be configured with the same password
).
Unless you intend to provide public access to your wireless network and put your
business data or your own personal data at risk you should consider encryption
mandatory.
DID YOU KNOW...
ad-hoc mode is an 802.11 networking framework in which devices or stations commu
nicate directly with each other, without the use of an access point (AP). Ad-hoc
mode is also referred to as peer-to-peer mode or an Independent Basic Service S
et (IBSS). Ad-hoc mode is useful for establishing a network where wireless infra
structure does not exist or where services are not required.
Even before the Internet and the Web became as commonplace as television and tel
ephones, urban legends and silly (or scary) myths made their way across the cult
ure, from kid to kid, parent to parent, co-worker to co-worker. What kid in the
'70s didn't wonder if little Mikey really did die from eating Pop Rocks and soda
? Word of mouth can have a powerful influence on a brand. While Mikey (aka John
Gilchrist) is still alive and well, rumors of his demise caused Pop Rocks sales
to suffer so greatly that General Foods took it off the market in 1983.
The preponderance of e-mail and Web sites in this new millennium have made the c
reation and spread of misinformation possible on a scale previously unimaginable
. (Neiman Marcus cookie recipe, anyone?) For the most part, e-mails with urgent
calls to action, exciting opportunities to get free trips from Bill Gates, or wa
rnings about the potential for organ theft while on vacation are exclusively the
bastion of the new and the inexperienced. But in recent years one much more sub
tle bit of misinformation has taken hold, not just among the gullible and the naïv
e, but also among some of the most tech savvy people in the world. Like a modern
day game of operator being played over mobile phones with poor reception, the f
alse notion that the brand name "Wi-Fi" is short for "wireless fidelity" has spr
ead to such an extent that even industry leader EarthLink recently included it i
n a press release. And EarthLink is not alone: Wikipedia, several online diction
aries (including our own Webopedia (define)), About.com, and the U.S. military a
ll got it wrong, too. [Even this site got it wrong a few times in the early days
-- the proof is out there! -- Editor.]
The truth is, Wi-Fi isn't short for anything and it never was.
Here's what happened:
In 1999, a handful of industry leaders formed a global non-profit organization w
ith the goal of "driving the adoption of a single worldwide-accepted standard fo
r high-speed wireless local area networking." They called themselves the "Wirele
ss Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA)."
Because 'IEEE 802.11' is a bit of a mouthful, one of WECA's first tasks was to d
evelop a more memorable, user-friendly name for the wireless standard. To that e
nd, they hired powerhouse branding company Interbrand -- the company responsible
for naming Prozac, Celebrex, the Mitsubishi Eclipse, and the Nissan Xterra, jus
t to name a few -- to come up with a list of names that could be used in place o
f IEEE 802.11b.
Thirteen names were presented to WECA, including Skybridge, Torchlight, and Flyo
ver. Despite how lame these names sound in retrospect, Interbrand is actually ve
ry good at its job. Its naming strategy for IBM, for instance, saved the company
more than $4,000,000 in one year. And among forgettable names such as Transpeed
and Elevate, there was, obviously, a winner: Wi-Fi.
Interestingly enough, when the WECA board got together to discuss the names, the
one that received the highest score was Trapeze (now the name of a Wi-Fi infras
tructure company). Close behind and tied for second were Dragonfly, Hornet and W
i-Fi. Had any of the other top contenders won out, rather than using a Wi-Fi-ena
bled device, today you would be using your Trapeze- or Dragonfly-enabled device
to check e-mail or download a video. Trapeze, of course, would not be considered
"short for wireless fidelity." Neither would "Dragonfly." That's because they'r
e not. They would stand in for IEEE 802.11 just like Wi-Fi does.
Phil Belanger, analyst with Novarum and a co-founder of WECA (which later became
the Wi-Fi Alliance), remembers those meetings well.
"Some of the names were hilarious and horrible," recalls Belanger. "We almost sa
id, 'Go back to the drawing board.' Wi-Fi won out. When we saw it with the yin-y
ang logo, we thought, 'Yeah, this is good.' One of the funny things was -- this
may sound silly now -- but at the time, it was going from two to eleven megabits
. That's really fancy wireless stuff, woo! Maybe half of the names were trying t
o underscore the idea of speed. You can imagine how dated that would be now if w
e'd selected one of those."
Nowhere in the notes from those meetings or in Belanger's recollection was Wi-Fi int
ended to be short for "wireless fidelity." Put simply, since there is no such th
ing as wireless fidelity, nothing could ever be short for it.
The current confusion seems to stem from a brief period early in the days of the
Wi-Fi Alliance when a regrettable tag line was added that stated, "The Standard
for Wireless Fidelity." This was not part of the original name and was not crea
ted by Interbrand, but it was added as an afterthought in an attempt to help use
rs make sense of the new and somewhat nonsensical word, "Wi-Fi."
"The tagline is incorrect on so many levels," says Belanger. "To say 'the standa
rd' broke with the charter. We weren't creating standards -- we were promoting a
n existing standard. One of the motivations was that we were trying to expand th
e use of WLANs to the home market, so this notion of 'wireless fidelity,' some p
eople felt like if they're going to transfer audio and video around their house,
then maybe that has some of the appeal. We have this name Wi-Fi. What two words
have "wi" and "fi" starting them? Maybe it can help support our goal?"
By the end of 2000, the pointless tagline was dropped and the term "wireless fid
elity" was supposed to disappear into the ether. But somehow, as the Wi-Fi brand
gained traction, so did the mistaken notion that it was "short for wireless fid
elity." Despite the fact that Wikipedia claims the Wi-Fi Alliance still uses the
term "wireless fidelity" in its white papers, there are only two documents in t
he Wi-Fi Alliance online knowledge base that use it. They are press releases fro
m the spring and summer of 2000, historical documents that preserve a regrettabl
e phase, much like the photos that preserve our most unfortunate hairstyles or w
ardrobe choices long after we've moved on.
It's been roughly seven years since "wireless fidelity" was officially used or p
ropagated in any way by the Wi-Fi Alliance, and yet, somehow, it has spread amon
g the populous to the point that even industry insiders who ought to know better per
petrate it in press releases and on Web sites. There's even a company that calls
itself Ubiquitous Wireless Fidelity (or "uWiFi" for short).
How could this happen? How could a term that has no meaning and no definition (t
hat, according to John Ferrari, an early member of WECA and current President an
d CEO of LightPort, was dreamt up over a pitcher of margaritas at a Chevy's rest
aurant in Mountain View, California in 1999) be turning up seven years later as
a presumably bona fide term in so many places? Is this the wireless industry's N
ieman Marcus Cookie Recipe?
Frank Hanzlik, the current managing director for the Wi-Fi Alliance, was not at
the meetings where the Interbrand names were discussed, but he was a member of W
ECA and he is now entrusted with protecting and perpetuating the Wi-Fi brand. He
confirms that "wireless fidelity" has no meaning, is not part of the trademark,
and is not used or encouraged to be used by the Wi-Fi Alliance. However, he fee
ls no need to aggressively correct those who use it, since what's most important
to his organization is simply that "Wi-Fi" continues to be a household name.
"In the very early days of building the brand, there was a linkage to the hi-fi
chronology," says Hanzlik. "It was successful in creating a positive connotation
of what that could mean to a user. Over the last seven years, the term Wi-Fi ha
s become quite ubiquitous in the developed part of the world. We just try to kee
p it simple and use only Wi-Fi."
"We declared victory when we made the Merriam-Webster dictionary," says Hanzlik.
"Now we encourage everyone to use Wi-Fi versus 'wireless LAN,' because it reson
ates more with folks -- but we do enforce the Wi-Fi Certified and the Wi-Fi Alli
ance brands and logos."
Unlike what happened to Pop Rocks in the '70s, misinformation has had the opposi
te effect on Wi-Fi. The brand continues to grow by leaps and bounds.
"It's always great to think back to those early days," says Hanzlik. "Seven year
s in some cases seems like a long, long time. But in many industries, it's reall
y remarkable what we've accomplished in that period of time. We sold 200 million
units last year, and we're on track for 500 million in a few years. It's really
remarkable growth, and exciting."
For the record, "Wi-Fi" is always hyphenated, with a capital "w" and a capital "
f." It's not short for anything