What Is Wi-Fi ??

Short for wireless fidelity and is meant to be used generically when referring of any type of 802.11 network, whether 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, dual-band, etc. The term is created by the Wi-Fi Alliance, an organization made up of leading wireless equipment and software providers with the missions of certifying all 802.11-based products for interoperability and promoting the term Wi-Fi as the global brand name across all markets for any 802.11-based wireless LAN products.

While all 802.11a/b/g products are called Wi-Fi, only products that have passed the Wi-Fi Alliance testing are allowed to refer to their products as "Wi-Fi Certified" (a registered trademark). Products that pass are required to carry an identifying seal on their packaging that states "Wi-Fi Certified" and indicates the radio frequency band used (2.5GHz for 802.11b or 11g, 5GHz for 802.11a) This group was formerly known as the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) but changed its name in October 2002 to better reflect the Wi-Fi brand it wants to build.


Wi-Fi is the popular term for a high-frequency wireless local area network (WLAN). The Wi-Fi technology is rapidly gaining acceptance in many companies as an alternative to a wired LAN. It can also be installed for a home network. Wi-Fi is specified in the 802.11b specification from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and is part of a series of wireless specifications together with 802.11, 802.11a, and 802.11g. All four standards use the Ethernet protocol and CSMA/CA (carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance) for path sharing. The 802.11b (Wi-Fi) technology operates in the 2.4 GHz range offering data speeds up to 11 megabits per second. The modulation used in 802.11 has historically been phase-shift keying (PSK). The modulation method selected for 802.11b is known as complementary code keying (CCK), which allows higher data speeds and is less susceptible to multipath-propagation interference.