What Is Wifi?

What Is WiFi?

What is WiFi?  Wi-Fi is basically the wireless technology that allows you to connect to the internet through your laptop at the “hotspot” at your local grocery store, your favorite restaurant, or the big hotel chains.  WiFi technology allows you to have a wireless LAN (local area network) in your home.  A LAN might connect two or more computers in one network, and this can be done wirelessly.  Most of the time, that connection would be considered a Wi-Fi connection.

Second, you should know that “Wi-Fi” is a trademark!  It’s actually owned by The Wi-Fi Alliance.  The Alliance allows the trademark to be displayed only on products that meet their standards for interoperability.  This is a very good thing, because without these standards, it might be difficult or impossible — and likely a LOT more expensive — to get wireless devices to work together.

Third, Wi-Fi stands for “wireless fidelity” … or it sort of does, but not really.  According to an article at boing boing, “Wi-Fi doesn’t stand for anything.  It is not an acronym.  There is no meaning.”  Wi-Fi is supposed to be a catchy brand name.  As we all know, brand names usually don’t have any meaning, they just sound good to the ear — they have a nice ring.  Wi-Fi reminds us of Hi-Fi, which probably makes us think of good sound coming from good technology.  Here’s a link to that article.  http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/08/wifi-isnt-short-for-.html

Wi-Fi may be trademarked, but the word is so widely used, it will probably become like “Xerox” or “Kleenex,” a brand name that is used generically for a type of product or service.

I hope that answers the basic question, What is WiFi? and gives you a brief introduction.  Come back soon for more really cool information on wireless technology.