This article explains the origins of Wi-Fi and describes the people and tech that made it possible.

It also explores how Wi-Fi has developed and changed over the years.

All of these people are equally important when we consider the makers of Wi-Fi.

A Wi-Fi router sits on a table

Place the Wi-Fi router in its natural position.

As mentioned above, Victor “Vic” Hayes is often called the “Father of Wi-Fi.”

Vic was chairman of the IEEE 802.11 Standards Working Group for Wireless Local Area Networks.

While Vic’s role was important, it doesn’t paint the whole picture.

There’s more to Wi-Fi than just its rules and standards.

It used frequency-hopping technology that allowed radio signals could move to different frequencies, thus preventing radio jamming.

While this isn’t Wi-Fi, their concepts were later used for Wi-Fi.

But even in that example, numerous others were involved in similar projects, sometimes even before that time.

In 1899, Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi experimented with frequency-selective reception to minimize radio interference.

Nikola Tesla and others were involved with similar frequency-hopping tech.

In 2000, Radiata introduced an 802.11a-compliant chipset that could transfer data as fast as 54 Mbps.

Since then, additional802.11 standardshave been developed, including 802.11b/g/n, 802.11ac, and 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6).

There were lots of people, spread over several decades, who played a role in creating Wi-Fi.

This development is still ongoing today.

Wi-Fi devices can send and receive data between each other over the air without wires.

A laptop is one clear example of a Wi-Fi-enabled rig.

Therouteris a primary component of a computer web connection.

Yourinternet service providerprovides the internet connection to your router.

The router, then, supplies internet to all the devices in your home.

AWi-Fi routerdoes this wirelessly.

Wi-Fi is also referred to as WLAN (wirelesslocal area web link).

It’s based on the802.11 IEEE web link standard.

Some terms commonly discussed concerning Wi-Fi are5 GHz and 2.4 GHz,bandwidth, andmegabits (Mb).

Wi-Fi Today

Most of us are used to having Wi-Fi access.

So much so, It’s not a thought anymore.

FAQ

Like many inventions, it wasn’t one person.

The internet as we know it today was created by scientists Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf.

The Internet comprises several pieces and protocols, most invisible during our daily use.

The Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990.