Wi-Fi equals WLAN? The truth is this...

Today, the partner asked Xiao Bian to buy a new mobile phone network part of the prompt is the "wireless LAN", and the phone prompts of friends around him is Wi-Fi, how could this be so chaotic? How are so many names for a thing? I believe that including many people, all think that wireless LAN = Wi-Fi, in fact, this is really not the same thing.

Wi-Fi is not a WLAN

Wireless Local Area Network = WLAN, and Wireless Fidelity = Wi-Fi, which are actually a lot worse in name.

Simply put, WLAN is the collective name for wireless LAN, and Wi-Fi is just a commercial authentication standard for WLAN! Wi-Fi certified products comply with the IEEE 802.11abgn and ac wireless network specifications. It is currently the most widely used WLAN standard, but it is by no means equal to WLAN.

Certainly a small partner will say, isn't that now wireless? Wireless LAN is a kind of wireless + LAN function application, there are many standards to achieve this function, the most widely used is the Wi-Fi standard wireless LAN. For example, China has its own wireless technology standard - WAPI!

At the ISO/IEC JTC1/SC6 conference held in 2010, China’s dominant WAPI wireless LAN technology standards were unanimously approved by more than 10 members from the United States, Britain, and France, and will be promoted as independent standards in international standards. Although this standard did not get popular, it was another technical standard outside Wi-Fi.

Not only that, but also a WIMAX standard many years ago. It is a technical standard that combines wireless LAN + communication network. At present, this technology has no one to care about.

Why is there some Wi-Fi on the phone?

About the small partner asked Xiao Bian, why some mobile phones display Wi-Fi, and some show the problem of wireless LAN, the reasons are closely related to the above.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology policy in 2010, any mobile phone with WAPI added function can be checked into the network and be allowed to enter the network. The principle is that this type of mobile phone can use WAPI access when there is a WAPI network and cannot search for WAPI technical standard wireless signals. WLAN access via Wi-Fi, but pure Wi-Fi phones cannot be listed!

This is a good explanation of the differences in mobile phone display of wireless names: It shows that the wireless LAN is a licensed mobile phone that complies with related policies in China, and mobile phones sold in other regions do not need to comply with the WAPI standard, so the labeling of Wi-Fi is simplified! In other words, the display of Wi-Fi must be a parallel mobile phone.