Wi-Fi

Most people associate the term "Wi-Fi" with the ability to browse the Internet wirelessly. Though this definition isn't technically incorrect, there is more to Wi-Fi wireless technology than just browsing the Internet. Ten years ago, no one would have thought that it would be possible to listen to music from your basement computer on your entertainment system upstairs, or download songs to your Wi-Fi-enabled MP3 player, but Wi-Fi technology has made it possible to do not only these, but a host of other applications as well.

WHAT IS WI-FI?

Short for "wireless fidelity", Wi-Fi is one of the most popular wireless communication standards on the market. Wi-Fi is technically a trademarked brand name for the wireless standard owned by the Wi-Fi Alliance, much like Bluetooth® is trademarked by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group. In its fledgling stages, Wi-Fi technology was almost solely used to wirelessly connect laptop computers to the Internet via local area networks (LANs), but thanks to the immense flexibility the technology provides, that's no longer the case. Wi-Fi technology is now found in a host of non-computer electronic devices as well, such as home theatre receivers, video game consoles, Blu-ray players, digital cameras, and even GPS devices.

WIRELESS STANDARDS

The official name for the specification is IEEE 802.11, and it is comprised of more than 20 different standards, each of which is denoted by a letter appended to the end of the name. The most familiar standards are 802.11b and 802.11g (Wireless B and G) which are used in the majority of commercial Wi-Fi devices. Both of these standards operate in the 2.4GHz band, and the only major difference between the two is the transfer rate (see chart below).


Some consumer electronics, however, use a different standard — Wireless A. These devices operate within the 5 GHz range and have transfer rates equivalent to 802.11g. However, since they operate on different frequencies, devices using the 802.11a standard cannot communicate with B and G-enabled devices.


The newest standard, dubbed 802.11n, was designed to replace all three of the previous standards. It's up to five times faster than 802.11g, with a range almost twice as far. It also adds multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology, which uses multiple antennas to increase data transfer rates. The 802.11n standard was drafted to allow up to four channel configurations with potential speeds up to 600 Mb/sec. It's becoming increasingly popular for its high speeds, which allow for smoother audio and video streaming among devices.