Wi-Fi - Who Knew?!

My friend and I have had repeated arguments on the correct terminology of Wi-Fi vs. Wireless Internet. She calls it wireless, I call it Wi-Fi. "But what does it mean?" She would implore, before I would smack her around with a wet noodle.

So to settle things once and for all, I decided to do a little research.

And this is what I found out thanks to the goodness of Wikipedia. Did I tell you I once did a whole school presentation using Wikipedia as my main source. I was happy to educate my fellow students on the amazing wonders of Nickel, Palladium, and Platinum. Interesting fact! But I digress.

Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity and was inspired by the term Hi-Fi, which stands for, you guessed it- High Fidelity. Because apparently back in the day it was necessary to tout the high quality sound that remained faithful to the original performance.

While Wi-Fi is wireless internet, it is also so much more. It allows all the wireless devices like my Iphone, or my MacBook Pro or my son's Wii or my Ipod to connect to the internet through a wireless network. A wireless network can allow any product (like cellphones, computers and video game consoles) regardless of type of device or brand to connect to the network.

The difference between wireless internet and Wi-Fi is IEEE 802.11 standards. Products who want Wi-Fi certification must meet these IEEE 802.11 standards before they can use the Wi-Fi logo. I have no idea what IEEE 802.11 means, but I suspect it is something along the lines of the ISO 17025 accreditation which my workplace adheres to. Basically a few letters with a smattering of numbers to make things sound fancy and official. This fancy nonsensical title allows Wi-Fi to be set as a global standard. So when I am touring the safari's of Africa, or checking out the buildings in Dubai, or chatting to the Penguins in Antarctica I can use my wireless device to connect to the internet, if a wireless connection is available.

And here I will end with my interesting fact:

Wi-Fi operates on a spread spectrum to send and receive information on a bandwith. Bluetooth is another way of sending data over this spread spectrum. And I have no idea what this "spread spectrum" really is, but I imagine it is the space around us. The world we live in, the air we breath, it is all around us.

And that is why I called Wi-Fi Wi-Fi.

~b~