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Wi-Fi revolutionized modern humanity. Fast internet access in airports, malls, and cafes is a dream come true for technology lovers. But this technology also brings a lot of confusion.
Everyone knows that WWW stands for World Wide Web, but no one has a clue what WiFi stand for. This article will answer that question, along with other common WiFi issues.
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What Does WiFi Stand For?
You might be a little disappointed to know that Wi-Fi stands for nothing.
It is not shorthand for anything.
It was made up for promotions and trademarked by the Wi-Fi Alliance. When the wireless internet industry was just stepping into the market, it was looking for a cool name to promote the new technology by.
The technical name for it was IEEE 802.11, which was not going to attract people. So, they started searching for a good name. After some brainstorming, they came up with Wi-Fi.
The term hi-fi was already being used in technology. It means high fidelity and was used for sound systems. It signified high quality or high performance. The resemblance between Wi-Fi and hi-fi was beneficial to the WiFi brand.
Many people think that Wi-Fi refers to wireless fidelity, but that is incorrect.
It does not stand for anything. It is just Wi-Fi.
What Happened To Wi-Max And The Citywide Free Wi-Fi
After the great success of Wi-Fi, Wi-Max was marketed as the next big thing. It was much faster than any other internet connection at that time. And it was a long time since the launch of 3G; many people even thought that Wi-Max could be accepted as the standard for 4G. It was even promised to be the best option for a citywide Wi-Fi.
But Wi-Max vanished without any trace.
You cannot find Wi-Max anywhere. The main reason behind this is the lack of funding. The people that were developing this technology did not get investors to make it commercial. Some internet service providers opted for it, but not for long. Soon, LTE (Long Term Evolution) was launched, which became the standard for 4G. All the service providers switched to it and forgot about Wi-Max.
The technology used in Wi-Max was also not good for a citywide Wi-Fi. It was cheap, but not good.
What Are Wi-Fi 802.11a And 802.11n And All That?
IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, is an organization that standardizes and recognizes the new inventions in this field gave 802.11 as the notation for Wi-Fi. Now the people behind this technology keep making improvements and denote them with separate alphabets for the convenience of the users. The 802.11b was the first widely commercialized version.