Through the years, we've seen different evolutions of Wi-Fi, culminating in the new 802.11ax standard.

Wi-Fi is the wireless standard 802.11 and nothing else. They loosely define the network geographic borders and let us know that radio frequency takes the place of wiring. Not much to it, huh? The important aspects are local and wireless. This brings us to my generic definition of a WLAN: A WLAN is a LAN that uses radio technology instead of wiring to interconnect networked nodes. In each case, some form of router sat between the LAN and whatever proprietary wireless transceivers were in play. Upon hearing WLAN was involved, I thought: 'Oh, boy, we may not want critical services on Wi-Fi.' In this Venn diagram, explore the difference between WLAN and Wi-Fi.īut, after digging into the product literature, I learned that these WLANs used different radio technologies and had nothing to do with Wi-Fi. Each used WLAN for its wireless connections. Recently, I consulted on requests for proposals and implementation projects involving lighting control and building alarm systems. To illustrate the difference between WLAN vs. A WLAN can be built on various wireless technology. The terms WLAN and Wi-Fi are often linked and used interchangeably, but problems arise with that habit. Add a W to LAN, and we have a wireless LAN.

Local generally means a network that is contained within a building or campus, representing a geographical or functional construct. To tackle the generic WLAN construct, we first need to review what is meant by local area network. In particular, let's explore the difference between WLAN vs. Even without these wireless network topologies, there can be enough to keep straight under the simple heading of WLAN. Forget, though, about wireless personal area networks, like Bluetooth, and wireless WANs and their respective network devices.

Wifi vs bluetooth printer