Wi-Fi technology, which is how most of your home devices have access to the Internet, has grown in leaps and bound and connected over the years. It started in the 1980s as a technology designed for wireless cash registers called WaveLAN. This technology was developed and shared with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) network standards group, known as Committee 802.
The technology was further developed during the 1990s until the committee published the 802.11 standard in 1997. The initial Wi-Fi form of that 1997 standard only supported 2 Mbps connections.
It has also not been officially known as “Wi-Fi” from the beginning; that term was coined only a few years ago as its popularity increased. Since then a group of industry standards has continued to evolve the standard, generating a family of new versions of Wi-Fi called later 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac and so on. The next generation of Wi-Fi will be called Wi-Fi 6, which will provide internet speeds of up to 9.6 Gbps (an increase in current Wi-Fi 5 speeds of 3.5 Gbps).
With speeds like that, networks around the world can manage more and more devices and connections. This means that each household could theoretically have an average of 50 Wi-Fi devices that work easily together, rather than a 2019 average of 9 devices. Imagine the Google Assistant in every room, the streaming devices for every TV, PC or laptop that download movies or files in a fraction of a second: this is the convenience and everything can be powered wirelessly.
The current state of wireless technology
The fourth generation of wireless network (4G) standards has launched the generation of smartphones: a world where people carry small and portable computers in their pockets and bags that can not only make phone calls, but transmit phone calls, but transmit phone calls but transmit phone calls but transmit phone calls, but transmit phone calls but transmit phone calls, but transmit phone calls but transmit phone calls but broadcast phone calls movies, music and live television and get their work done using programs that, in the past, were only available on a desktop-winged computer.
Some believe the world is on the brink of a breakthrough in wireless technology that is so innovative, however, that it puts 4G to shame. Called 5G, the fifth generation of wireless network standards promises significantly faster data speeds, higher connection density, much lower latency, energy savings and the potential for humans to evolve into another world new that’s so amazing in theory that most of us can’t even imagine the possibilities. Combine this with Wi-Fi 6, and the imagination of science fiction writers inches closer to reality.
Where the wireless connection is headed
Wireless service providers envision a future where this technology continues to connect us to the world around us and makes our lives easier every day. They are working hard to create a world where everyone, regardless of location, can come together to build a future that can truly leverage other technological advances, such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and more.