Wi-Fi or WiFi
  • is a technology for wireless local area networking with devices based on the IEEE 802.11 standards
  • Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance, which restricts the use of the term Wi-Fi Certified to products that successfully complete interoperability certification testing
  • commonly uses the 2.4 gigahertz (12 cm) UHF and 5 gigahertz (6 cm) SHF ISM radio bands
  • it is more vulnerable to attack than wired connections, such as Ethernet.

WiFi - How It Works

WiFi - Extra Features

WiFi - 802.11 Variants

802.11 Variants

Bits Per Second

Radio Frequency

Description

802.11

2 Mbps

2.4-Ghz

legacy

802.11b

2 Mbps

2.4-Ghz

802.11b variant

11 Mbps

2.4-Ghz

802.11a

54 Mbps

5-Ghz

limited almost line of sight

802.11g

54 Mbps

2.4-Ghz

802.11n

300 Mbps

2.4-Ghz
5-Ghz

introduced MIMO

802.11ac

7Gbps

802.11e

adds Quality of Service (QoS) features to existing 802.11 family specifications

802.11f

adds Access Point Interoperability to existing 802.11 family specifications

802.11i

  • robust security network (RSN) concept
  • based on mature and proven security technologies
  • WPA2 - 802.11i implementation by WiFi Alliance

802.11j

Japanese regulatory extensions to 802.11 family specifications

802.11k

radio resource measurement for 802.11 specifications so that a wireless network can be used more efficiently

802.11ax

802.11x

accept or reject users who want full access to a network using 802.1x. It is a security protocol that works with 802.11 wireless networks such as 802.11g and 802.11b, as well as with wired devices

802.11m

enhanced maintenance features, improvements, and amendments to existing 802.11 family specifications

802.11h

resolves interference issues with existing 802.11 family specifications

802.11s

specifies standard for mesh networks

WiFi - Other