WiFi Demystified

What is WiFi? 

Wireless or WiFi technology is another way of connecting your computer to the network or Internet without using wires. WiFi uses radio frequency to connect wirelessly, so you have the freedom to connect computers anywhere in your home or office network, and over large areas using powerful transmitters.

What does WiFi stand for?

Wi-Fi doesn't stand for anything.
It is not an acronym. There is no meaning.

Wi-Fi and the ying yang style logo were invented by Interbrand. The founding members of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance, now called the Wi-Fi Alliance hired Interbrand to come up with the name and logo that they could use for their interoperability seal and marketing efforts. They needed something that was a little catchier than "IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence". Interbrand created "Prozac", "Compaq" "oneworld", "Imation" and many other brand names that you have heard of.

The only reason that you hear anything about "Wireless Fidelity" is some of their group were afraid. They didn't understand branding or marketing. They could not imagine using the name "Wi-Fi" without having some sort of literal explanation. So they compromised and agreed to include the tag line "The Standard for Wireless Fidelity" along with the name. That seemed to be a mistake and only served to confuse people and dilute the brand. For the first year or so( circa 2000) , this would appear in all of their communications. Later, when Wi-Fi was becoming more successful and they got some marketing and business people from larger companies on the board, the alliance dropped the tag-line.

And "Wireless Fidelity" - what does that mean? Nothing. It was a clumsy attempt to come up with two words that matched Wi and Fi. That's it.  (excerpt from The WiFi Alliance web page)