We write a lot about WiFi in our blog posts. As network performance specialists, it makes sense. We posted a blog titled “Six Is Better Than Five” back in May where we wrote:

“WiFi 6 has been around for about three years now, yet most legacy networks are still running WiFi 5. In fact, we have seen first hand that even now new builders are still using the old technology when installing WiFi systems. Not that there’s anything wrong with WiFi 5, we simply want to point out the improvements with the latest version.”

What if we had to write that first line like this: “IEEE 802.11ax has been around for about three years now, yet most legacy networks are still running IEEE 802.11ac.” Would you have any idea what we were talking about?

You don’t have to be a network specialist to figure out that WiFi 6 was developed after WiFi 5. It would be difficult to distinguish between the two if we were confined to using the official standard. The title of that blog gives you all the information you need. Six is better than five.

The people who developed these WiFi standards – the WiFi Alliance – recognized that there needed to be a more user-friendly name. They hired a marketing firm who came up with WiFi (or Wi-Fi). At the time they thought they needed a literal explanation, so they added the tag line “The Standard for Wireless Fidelity.”

They quickly figured out that “Wireless Fidelity” didn’t make sense and was confusing in its own right so they dropped it. But it was already on the Internet, so it wasn’t going away. In preparation for this blog, we asked a JitterWorks colleague what WiFi stands for. He immediately replied “Wireless Fidelity.” Wrong. 

In reality the term WiFi doesn’t stand for anything. It was simple and catchy along the lines of HiFi (or Hi-Fi) which stands for High Fidelity – the high quality reproduction of sound. Now HiFi makes sense. It’s likely that almost anyone over the age of fifty put a vinyl record on a HiFi stereo and listened to their favorite artists. (And most likely heard the phrase “turn that down!” from an angry parent.) 

WiFi never needed a literal definition. It was and always will be just much easier to say and understand than IEEE 802.11ax (WiFi 6). If you’re wondering, IEEE stands for Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. We are also grateful for the use of the IEEE acronym as well.

As stated, we write a lot about WiFi, WiFi 5, WiFi 6; and we would like to extend our personal appreciation to the WiFi Alliance for having the good sense to come up with a much simpler way to reference the IEEE 802.11 technology they developed.