This is the second part of the series, The Wi-Fi and You, which aims at educating the readers about the wireless network in a simplistic approach.
In this part, I would like to elucidate the concept of Wi-Fi standards; what they are, their different variants, what benefits they bring and how to leverage that knowledge in making buying decisions. Remember, in the first part of the series, we mentioned how different generations of standards connected to an Access Point could affect the performance of a wireless network.
Wouldn’t we rather start with understanding the concept of Standards?
Come to think of it, without hassles, you could easily connect to your office or home WiFi from your mobile devices without the need to ask for what make the Access Point is or when it was produced. It doesn’t even run through your thoughts to ascertain compatibility before connecting to a Wi-Fi Hotspot, as long as the Wi-Fi is on and you have the right authorization.
In the same vein, you could easily share files using Bluetooth from one gadget to the other irrespective of which country the gadget was made. You could decide to pair your wireless headphone or ear-puds with another device made by another manufacturer, without the slightest of worries. Have you ever thought of how all these could happen seamlessly? The answer to this is…you guessed right. Standards!
Standards answer the questions of interoperability and compatibility. They are globally adopted published documents that describe specifications and procedures that vendors must adhere to in the course of design and manufacturing of their devices. In networking, standards make networked devices connect seamlessly and interoperate without any issues of incompatibility.
Is there a governing body?
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association (IEEE-SA) is an organization within the IEEE that develops global standards in a broad range of industries, which include, but not limited to information technology and consumer technology. Consequently, they are behind the standards for the Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN).
WLAN Standards
IEEE 802.11 is the family of standard used specifically to connote the WLAN. After the first specification, which was IEEE 802.11, a suffix has been added to the subsequent versions to show the actual variation. Lately, names like Wi-Fi 4, Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 have been adopted. This was introduced by the Wi-Fi Alliance- an organization that ensures Wi-Fi products’ conformity with the IEEE’s set of 802.11 wireless standards to ensure interoperability- to make the naming easier to remember. For every device that passes the test of conformity carried out by the Wi-Fi Alliance, you would find on it, the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal. Nevertheless, not all devices compliant with the IEEE 802.11 specifications have the certification of the Wi-Fi Alliance.
Wi-Fi Frequency Bands
Before delving fully into the world of the IEEE 802.11 standard and its variants, let us take a look at an indispensable term, frequency band, which you would encounter more often in the latter part of this write-up. The frequency band is a range of frequencies in the radio wave frequency spectrum used to transmit data in the wireless communication domain.
Within the entire range of the radio wave spectrum, there are parts of it which require no license from the government to use. These unlicensed frequencies are described as the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) bands. Wireless communications, though not one of the originally intended uses, has become one of the most popular uses of the ISM bands. Wi-Fi frequency bands have always used 2.4GHz and 5GHz until recently when the 6GHz band was also introduced.
High or low, which is better?
On the one hand, the lower frequency, 2.4GHz, covers a longer range compared to the higher ones. The drawback is that many other applications also use the 2.4GHz frequency band, among which are; Bluetooth, microwave oven etc. This results in interference. The higher frequencies, on the other hand, are less crowded, with higher data rates, but they cannot travel as far as the shorter ones.
Below are some of the major versions of the IEEE 802.11 standard:
IEEE 802.11
This is the first version of the IEEE 802.11 standard. At its best, it was only able to provide a data rate of 1 or 2 Mbps and its entire coverage was just about 66 feet indoor and 330 feet outdoor. You hardly would find this around anymore since new developments have brought about better services. It operated on the 2.4GHz frequency band.
IEEE 802.11b
This was a modification to the original IEEE 802.11 and it was designed to provide a maximum theoretical data rate of 11 Mbps. This looks like so much of an improvement vis-à-vis the original 802.11 right? True. These enhancement even makes it more popular than the original 802.11, also thanks to the fact that it was relatively inexpensive.
However, it wasn’t long before its best became the least among the successive amendments. It uses the same 2.4GHz frequency band as 802.11.
IEEE 802.11a
This came with a number of changes. First, it uses the 5GHz frequency band, which is less crowded than the 2.4GHz. This implies less interference, but a shorter range of coverage. Also, it can give a maximum data rate of 54Mbps, although the throughput, in reality, is often less than that, as described in the first part of the series.
IEEE 802.11g
Like the 802.11a, 802.11g also supports a maximum data rate of 54Mbps. However, it uses the 2.4GHz frequency band. It, therefore, covers a longer range than 802.11a with a drawback of being prone to more interference, as the frequency band is crowded. Another impressive feature of the 802.11g is that it is backward compatible with the famous 802.11b. This means a device designed to use 802.11b could connect to an 802.11g Access Point while using its data rate.
IEEE 802.11n
This is also described as Wi-Fi 4 by the Wi-Fi Alliance. It supports both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands and can give a maximum data rate of up to 600Mbps depending on the number of antennas used. This is made possible because of the adoption of the MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology, which allows the simultaneous use of multiple antennas for transmission and reception to optimize the data rate and minimize errors.
IEEE 802.11ac
With 802.11ac / Wi-Fi 5 comes a huge improvement. These improvements have made Very High Throughput (VHT) data rate a reality. Wi-Fi 5 is known to achieve top speeds of about 1.73Gbps and operates in the 5GHz frequency band. The initial set of devices or products that were released after the Wi-Fi 5 specification could not meet up with all the written specification draft, so the Wi-Fi Alliance split the launch into Wave 1 and Wave 2, with 802.11ac Wave 2 providing additional features like improved bandwidth and capacity.
IEEE 802.11ax
802.11ax, with the market name Wi-Fi 6, is the successor of Wi-Fi 5 and the most recent version of the Wi-Fi standard, as at when this article was written. It offers a data rate of up to 9.6Gbps and also supports both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency band. In Wi-Fi 6, the Access Point would no longer be a bottleneck even if there are numerous devices connected to it. Wi-Fi 6 also proves to be more secure than the previous amendments. It makes it hard for intruders to crack into your network.
How do you check for the Wi-Fi specifications of your devices?
You might probably not be able to find directly from the physical settings or properties of your devices which Wi-Fi standard it supports or is compatible with. However, you could check for the full specification online to know such details. For instance, below is a screenshot of the specification for iPhone 6s from the gsmarena webpage:
This shows that iPhone 6 supports 5 versions of the Wi-Fi standard: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac. If it were in connection with other devices that support 802.11ac, they would all negotiate to use 802.11ac, which would result in a good performance for all the devices.
I do hope this has helped in a little way to enrich your understanding of the wireless network. Thank you for reading.
REFERENCES
Justin Berg “The IEEE 802.11 Standardization Its History, Specifications, Implementations and Future” Technical Report GMU-TCOM-TR-8
https://www.wi-fi.org/certification
https://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_6s-7242.php
https://www.everythingrf.com/community/what-is-mimo-technology
https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/connectivity/wifi-ieee-802-11/standards.php
https://www.networkworld.com/article/3238664/80211-wi-fi-standards-and-speeds-explained.html
