the.com/wifi
invisible electromagnetic magic you'd riot over losing, named by a marketing firm to mean nothing.
means The wireless networking technology that lets your devices connect to the internet and each other over radio waves without cables.
from A genuinely funny case of a name that means nothing. 'Wi-Fi' was coined around 1999 by a branding firm, Interbrand, hired by the industry group promoting the IEEE 802.11 wireless standard — because '802.11b Direct Sequence' was never going to sell. People assume it stands for 'Wireless Fidelity,' echoing 'Hi-Fi' (high fidelity audio), but that phrase was invented AFTER the name, as a backronym to make the meaningless sound meaningful. The branders themselves have said it stands for nothing at all — it just sounded snappy next to 'Hi-Fi.'
- meaningless name
- wi-fi stands for absolutely nothing, despite myths
- radio roots
- it is just radio waves bouncing through your walls
- hedy lamarr
- a hollywood star co-invented its underlying tech
- speed of light
- signals travel at literal light speed indoors
- weak by design
- output is under one watt, fridge-bulb feeble
airport wifi networks — global standard since 2004; found in 80% of major airports including lax, heathrow, dubai international
starbucks wifi — at&t partnership covering 16,000+ us locations since 2006
eduroam — academic network spanning 8,000+ institutions across 160 countries