Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves. These are the most widely used computer networks, used globally in home and small office networks to link devices and to provide Internet access with wireless routers and wireless access points in public places such as coffee shops, restaurants, hotels, libraries, and airports. 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. Non-compliant hardware is simply referred to as WLAN, and it may or may not work with "Wi-Fi Certified" devices. As of 2017, the Wi-Fi Alliance consisted of more than 800 companies from around the world. As of 2019, over 3.05 billion Wi-Fi-enabled devices are shipped globally each year. Wi-Fi uses multiple parts of the IEEE 802 protocol family and is designed to work well with its wired sibling, Ethernet. Compatible devices can network through wireless access points with each other as well as with wired devices and the Internet. Different versions of Wi-Fi are specified by various IEEE 802.11 protocol standards, with different radio technologies determining radio bands, maximum ranges, and speeds that may be achieved. Wi-Fi most commonly uses the 2.4 gigahertz (120 mm) UHF and 5 gigahertz (60 mm) SHF radio bands, with the 6 gigahertz SHF band used in newer generations of the standard; these bands are subdivided into multiple channels. Channels can be shared between networks, but, within range, only one transmitter can transmit on a channel at a time.
Wi-Fi's radio bands work best for line-of-sight use. Common obstructions, such as walls, pillars, home appliances, etc., may greatly reduce range, but this also helps minimize interference between different networks in crowded environments. The range of an access point is about 20 m (66 ft) indoors, while some access points claim up to a 150 m (490 ft) range outdoors. Hotspot coverage can be as small as a single room with walls that block radio waves or as large as many square kilometers using multiple overlapping access points with roaming permitted between them. Over time, the speed and spectral efficiency of Wi-Fi has increased. As of 2025, some versions of Wi-Fi, running on suitable hardware at close range, can achieve speeds of 23 Gbit/s (gigabit per second).
History
A 1985 ruling by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission released parts of the ISM bands for unlicensed use for communications in the United States. These frequency bands include the same 2.4 GHz bands used by equipment such as microwave ovens, and are thus subject to interference. In 1991 in the city of Nieuwegein in the Netherlands, the NCR Corporation and AT&T invented the precursor to 802.11, intended for use in cashier systems, under the name WaveLAN. NCR's Vic Hayes, who held the chair of IEEE 802.11 for ten years, along with Bell Labs engineer Bruce Tuch, approached the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to create a standard and were involved in designing the initial 802.11b and 802.11a specifications within the IEEE. They have both been subsequently inducted into the Wi-Fi NOW Hall of Fame. In 1989 in Australia, a team of scientists began working on wireless LAN technology. A prototype test bed for a wireless local area network (WLAN) was developed in 1992 by a team of researchers from the Radiophysics Division of the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) in Australia, led by John O'Sullivan. A patent for Wi-Fi was lodged by the CSIRO in 1992. The first version of the 802.11 protocol was released in 1997, and provided up to 2 Mbit/s link speeds. This was updated in 1999 with 802.11b to permit 11 Mbit/s link speeds. In 1999, the Wi-Fi Alliance formed as a trade association to hold the Wi-Fi trademark under which most IEEE 802.11 products are sold.
The major commercial breakthrough came with Apple Inc. adopting Wi-Fi for their iBook series of laptops in 1999. It was the first mass consumer product to offer Wi-Fi network connectivity, which was then branded by Apple as AirPort. This was in collaboration with the same group that helped create the standard: Vic Hayes, Bruce Tuch, Cees Links, Rich McGinn, and others from Lucent. In 2000, Radiata, a group of Australian scientists connected to the CSIRO, were the first to use the 802.11a standard on chips connected to a Wi-Fi network. Wi-Fi uses a large number of patents held by multiple different organizations. Australia, the United States and the Netherlands simultaneously claim the invention of Wi-Fi, and a consensus has not been reached globally. In 2009, the Australian CSIRO was awarded $200 million after a patent settlement with 14 technology companies, with a further $220 million awarded in 2012 after legal proceedings with 23 companies. In 2016, the CSIRO's WLAN prototype test bed was chosen as Australia's contribution to the exhibition A History of the World in 100 Objects held in the National Museum of Australia.
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