History

Wi-Fi uses both single carrier direct-sequence spread spectrum radio technology (part of the larger family of spread spectrum systems) and multi-carrier OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) radio technology. These regulations then enabled the development of Wi-Fi, its onetime competitor HomeRF, and Bluetooth.

Unlicensed spread spectrum was first made available in the US by the Federal Communications Commission in 1985 and these FCC regulations were later copied with some changes in many other countries enabling use of this technology in all major countries.[12] The FCC action was proposed by Michael Marcus of the FCC staff in 1980 and the subsequent regulatory action took 5 more years. It was part of a broader proposal to allow civil use of spread spectrum technology and was opposed at the time by main stream equipment manufacturers and many radio system operators.

The precursor to Wi-Fi was invented in 1991 by NCR Corporation/AT&T (later Lucent & Agere Systems) in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands. It was initially intended for cashier systems; the first wireless products were brought on the market under the name WaveLAN with speeds of 1 Mbit/s to 2 Mbit/s. Vic Hayes, who held the chair of IEEE 802.11 for 10 years and has been named the 'father of Wi-Fi,' was involved in designing standards such as IEEE 802.11b, and 802.11a.

City wide Wi-Fi

St. Cloud, Florida became the first city in the United States to offer city wide free Wi-Fi,[13] although many others have plans to offer the service. Corpus Christi, Texas had offered free Wi-Fi until May 31, 2007 when the network was purchased by Earthlink.[14] Philadelphia is also using Earthlink for its city wide Wi-Fi.[15] New Orleans had free city wide Wi-Fi shortly after Hurricane Katrina.[16] City wide Wi-Fi is available in nine cities in the UK, Newcastle Upon Tyne being the first UK city host, others include Leeds, Manchester, Norwich and London.[17] Other cities, such as the Minneapolis metro area, have a large number of Wi-Fi hotspots so you can receive good signals anywhere, even if from different sources. In Europe, the City of Luxembourg has a city-wide Wi-Fi network.

In Latin America, Mexico City downtown has a public Wi-Fi network.

As compared to Wireless Mesh, Wimax provides over 4 times the number of subcarriers over a variable bandwidth of 1 to 28 MHz. With more subcarriers and a variable length guard interval, the spectral efficiency has increased from 15% to 40% compared to Wireless Mesh. The error vector magnitude of Wireless Mesh is higher than Wimax. This makes Wimax have a longer range. Wireless Mesh transmits and receives functions on the same channel where as Wimax transmits and receives functions at a different channel and at a different time. In Wireless Mesh the output power is virtually fixed however in Wimax the devices closer to the base stations emit less output power whereas the ones further away emit maximum output power. Wi-fi can overpower Wimax if the city is meshed with hot spots. A very easy way to do it would be if mobile carriers integrate hotspots with there mobile base stations as Wimax chips are not that integrated as the Wi-Fi chips

Origin and meaning of the term "Wi-Fi"

Despite the similarity between the terms "Wi-Fi" and "Hi-Fi", statements reportedly made by Phil Belanger of the Wi-Fi Alliance contradict the conclusion that "Wi-Fi" stands for "Wireless Fidelity".[18][19][20] According to Belanger, the Interbrand Corporation developed the brand "Wi-Fi" for the Wi-Fi Alliance to use to describe WLAN products that are based on the IEEE 802.11 standards. In Belanger's words,

Wi-Fi and the yin yang style logo were invented by Interbrand. We [the founding members of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance, now called the Wi-Fi Alliance] hired Interbrand to come up with the name and logo that we could use for our interoperability seal and marketing efforts. We needed something that was a little catchier than "IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence".[21]

The Wi-Fi Alliance themselves invoked the term "Wireless Fidelity" with the slogan "The Standard for Wireless Fidelity"[citation needed], but later removed the phrase from their marketing. The Wi-Fi Alliance now discourages the propagation of the notion that "Wi-Fi" stands for "Wireless Fidelity", but it has been referred to as such by the Wi-Fi Alliance in early White Papers still held in their knowledge base: "… a promising market for wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network equipment."[22] and "A Short History of WLANs." The association created the Wi-Fi logo to indicate that a product had been certified for interoperability

Wi-Fi Alliance

The Alliance promotes standards with the aim of improving the interoperability of wireless local area network products based on the IEEE 802.11 standards. The Wi-Fi Alliance, a consortium of separate and independent companies, agrees on a set of common interoperable products based on the family of IEEE 802.11 standards.[24] The Wi-Fi Alliance certifies products via a set of defined test-procedures to establish interoperability. Those manufacturers with membership of Wi-Fi Alliance and whose products pass these interoperability tests can mark their products and product packaging with the Wi-Fi logo.