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Wi-Fi

In 2005,

Sunnyvale, California

became the first city in the United States to offer city wide free Wi-Fi

Origin and meaning of the term

Wi-Fi

The term

Wi-Fi

suggests

Wireless Fidelity

, compared with the long-establishedaudio recording term

High Fidelity

Hi-Fi

Wireless Fidelity

has often been used in aninformal way, even by the Wi-Fi Alliance itself, but officially the term

Wi-Fi

does notmean anything.The term

Wi-Fi

, first used commercially in August 1999, was coined by a brandconsulting firm calledInterbrandCorporation that had been hired by the Alliance todetermine a name that was "a little catchier than 'IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence'."Interbrand invented

Wi-Fi

as simply a play on words with

Hi-Fi

, as well as creating theyin yangstyle Wi-Fi logo.The term

Wi-Fi

is often used by the public as a synonym for wireless LAN (WLAN); but not every wireless LAN product has a Wi-Fi certification, which may be because of certification costs that must be paid for each certified device typeWi-Fi is supported by most personal computer operating systems, manygame consoles,laptops,smartphones, printers, and other peripherals.

Uses



A Wi-Fi enabled device such as aPC,game console,mobile phone,MP3 player or PDAcan connect to theInternetwhen within range of awireless network connected to the Internet. The coverage of one or more interconnectedaccess points— called ahotspot— can comprise an area as small as a single room with wireless-opaque walls or as large as many square miles



In addition to restricted use in homes and offices, Wi-Fi can make access publiclyavailable atWi-Fi hotspotsprovided either free of charge or to subscribers tovarious providers. Organizations andbusinessessuch as airports, hotels andrestaurants often provide free hotspots to attract or assist clients.



Enthusiasts or authorities who wish to provide services or even to promote business in a given area sometimes provide free Wi-Fi access.



Many consumer devices use Wi-Fi. Amongst others, personal computerscannetwork to each other and connect to theInternet,mobile computerscan connect

to the Internet from any Wi-Fi hotspot, anddigital camerascan transfer imageswirelessly.

Problem during Evolution:



Whenwireless networkingtechnology first entered the market many problemsensued for consumers who could not rely on products from different vendorsworking together. The Wi-Fi Alliance began as acommunityto solve this issue — aiming to address the needs of theend-user and to allow the technology to mature.The Alliance created the branding

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED

to reassure consumers that products willinteroperatewith other products displaying the same branding.

Advantages



Wi-Fi allowslocal area networks(LANs) to be deployed without wires for clientdevices, typically reducing the costs of network deployment and expansion.Spaces where cables cannot be run, such as outdoor areas and historical buildings,can host wireless LANs.



Wireless network adapters are now built into most laptops. The price of chipsets for Wi-Fi continues to drop, making it an economical networking option includedin even more devices. Wi-Fi has become widespread in corporate infrastructures.



Wi-Fi is widely available in more than 220,000 public hotspots and tens of millions of homes and corporate and university campuses worldwide



Air Canada has already announced its plans for providing in-flight Wi-Fi servicesfor its customers.

Reach

Wi-Fi performance decreases roughly quadratically as distance increases atconstant radiation levels.Due to reach requirements for wireless LAN applications, power consumption isfairly high compared to some other standards. Technologies such asBluetooth, which aredesigned to support wirelessPANapplications, provide a much shorter propagation rangeof <10m and so in general have a lower power consumption.The high power consumption of Wi-Fi makes battery life a concern for mobiledevices.