Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance for certified products based on the IEEE 802.11 (W-LAN) standards. This certification warrants interoperability between different wireless devices whose manufacturers have paid for a certain certification process.

The term Wi-Fi is often used by the public as a synonym for wireless LAN (WLAN); but not every wireless LAN product has a Wi-Fi certification, which may be because of certification costs that must be paid for each certified device type.

Wireless LAN (the technology Wi-Fi certificates are based on) is supported by most personal computer operating systems, many game consoles, laptops, smartphones, printers, and other peripherals.