6 min
32 of the Best Wi-Fi Facts you need to know
Wi-Fi Facts Last Updated on May 19th 2022.
It’s a fact (no pun intended) that Wi-Fi has reshaped the way we live. WiFi has changed how we work, study, and interact with each other. All of us use WiFi so frequently that we mostly don’t think about the origins of this amazing technology.
But, where did WiFi come from and how did we get here? Get to know WiFi better by reading the top interesting Wi-Fi facts.
“Does this hotel have free FlankSpeed?”
“Dad, the DragonFly is slow again!”
Wi-Fi’s original names were “FlankSpeed” and “DragonFly”. Thank the Internet Gods that those Wi-Fi terms didn’t stick!
Here are some very interesting Wi-Fi Facts you can use to impress your friends, family, and colleagues at your next party.
Jump ahead to the section of WiFi Facts you’re most interested in!
General Wi-Fi Facts
Wi-Fi was has had some weird names in the past
WaveLAN, FlankSpeed, DragonFly, WECA, and IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence, were all previous names. Eventually, the more consumer-friendly name Wi-Fi stuck. Read the article.
Interbrand invented the term Wi-Fi
Interbrand invented the term “Wi-Fi” as a play on words of the term “Hi-Fi” or “High Fidelity”.
Vic Hayes laid the groundwork for the WiFi network
Vic Hayes, some call the “father of Wi-Fi”, chaired the IEEE committee that created the 802.11 standards in 1997. Before the public even heard of Wi-Fi, Hayes established the standards that would make Wi-Fi feasible. Read the article.
Wi-Fi signals are doughnut-shaped
Wi-Fi signals generally emit in a doughnut shape from a classic router. These create doughnut-shaped wireless coverage field. Moreover, there is a hole in the middle just like a doughnut – where there is no coverage. Yummy. Now that is a tasty thought.
Wi-Fi doesn’t mean anything
Even though Interbrand invented the term, Wi-Fi doesn’t stand for anything. What added to the confusion was the Wi-Fi Alliance’s use of a nonsense advertising slogan, “The Standard for Wireless Fidelity,” which led many people to think that Wi-Fi was an abbreviation of “Wireless Fidelity”.
WiFi interference is real – that is a Wi-Fi Fact
Many factors can cause WiFi interference. The proximity of a device to the WiFi router, large walls, being near devices that can cause interference like (cables, microwave ovens, fluorescent lights, wireless video cameras, and cordless phones) and too many devices being connected to one access point can also cause Wi-Fi problems. As mentioned earlier, most access points can handle up to 250 devices but this will impact your connection speed.
Wi-Fi Facts – History and Origins
Nikola Tesla predicted the Internet
Back in 1926, he predicted what the future may hold in terms of connectivity. “When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which it is.” Read the story.
Ethernet was invented in the 1970s
Ethernet – the most commonly used wired network standard – was invented almost half a century ago in the early 1970s, by Bob Metcalfe. Metcalfe is an engineer and entrepreneur from the United States who helped pioneer the Internet starting in 1970. Read the article.
WiFi was first created in Hawaii in 1979
The ALOHAnet which originated in Hawaii in 1979, was a computer networking system that allowed the first public demonstration of a wireless packet data network. Read the article.
The world’s first IoT device was a humble soda machine in Pittsburg
“Before there were Internet-connected umbrellas and juicers, water bottles and factories — before there was even a modern Internet — there was a humble Coke machine in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that could report its contents through a network.” Read the story.
Vint Cerf predicted there would be an IP on everything
“IP on everything” was first coined in 1992 by “Father of the Internet” In 1992, Vinton G. Cerf, VP, known as the “Father of the Internet,” first predicted that IP would appear on everything. He also wore a controversial T-shirt with the phrase, which caused quite the stir at the time! Read the article.
SNMP was first invented in 1992
Net-SNMP was invented in 1992 by a Network Group at Carnegie-Mellon University. The Network Group developed an implementation of a relatively new network management protocol – SNMP. Read the article. What is SNMP anyways? Learn more in the article all about SNMP.
The first version of the 802.111 protocol was launched in 1997
The first version of the 802.11 protocol was released in 1997 and provided up to 2 Mbit/s link speeds. Read the article.
“Internet of Things” was first coined in 1999
You may have only heard of it recently, but the term Internet of Things (IoT) has been around for almost 20 years! The term was first coined in 1999 by Kevin Ashton, a British visionary and engineer
Wi-Fi is the biggest transmitter of mobile communications. A whopping 71% of mobile communications flow over wireless internet which means Wi-Fi is now the biggest transmitter of communications around the world.
The longest broadband connection ever record
In April 2007, Ermanno Pietrosemoli (Venezuela) shot an 802.11 wireless signal 382 km (237 miles) between two mountains in the Venezuelan Andes. Read the article.
MSPs started emerging in the 90s
With the introduction of Wi-Fi in the 1990s business environments started to depend heavily on connected devices for continuity and performance. This led to the emergence of a new sector in the 1990s called managed services. The scope of an MSP’s services now includes: network monitoring and management, connect device and IoT systems monitoring and management, mobile device management, managed security, remote firewall administration, security-as-a-service, and managed print services.
Wi-Fi Today
Wi-Fi is almost 32 years old
The launch of wireless internet was in September 1990! Although many of us may feel dialing in for connection was just yesterday. Wi-Fi is now going to have its 32nd birthday. Feeling old yet?
Laser tech can deliver Wi-Fi
Starlink satellites communicate via laser technology. Because lasers can travel at the speed of light, (186,282 miles per second), communication can be faster. The first 60 Starlink satellites launched on May 23, 2019, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Read the article.
World Wi-Fi Day is June 20th
Wi-Fi has its special day, so don’t forget to celebrate on social media if you’re a service provider. World WiFi day recognizes and celebrates the role WiFi places in cities and communities around the world. The goal is to celebrate the projects that are connecting the unconnected and recognize WiFi’s role in reducing poverty. Read the article.
Cybersecurity Wi-Fi Facts
Cybercrime is on the rise
It is estimated that on average 30,000 websites are hacked every day. Read the article.
A company is hacked every 39 seconds
Every 39 seconds a company is hacked and more than 60% of organizations have experienced some form of a cyberattack. Read the article.
Data breaches cost more than 4 million per breach
The average total cost of a data breach increased from $3.86 million to $4.24 million in 2021. Read the report.
Wi-Fi Facts on Internet Speeds
WiFi speeds are going up for mobile and fixed broadband
According to speedtest.net, fixed broadband speeds are at a global performance of: 63.46 (download Mbps), 27.06 (upload Mbps), Latency of 10ms. The mobile Global Performance is 30.75 (download Mbps), 8.78 (upload Mbps), and 29 ms.
The United Arab Emirates has the fastest mobile connectivity right now
The United Arab Emirates has the fastest mobile connectivity at a speed of 134.48 download Mbps. These numbers are always fluctuating though.
Singapore has the fastest fixed broadband speed right now
Singapore has the fastest fixed broadband speeds right now at 207.61 download Mbps. These numbers are always fluctuating though. That’s a mile or signals above the global average.
Wi-Fi Device Usage Facts
29 billion connected devices in 2022
Ericcson forecasts around 29 billion devices will connect by 2022. Furthermore, 18 billion of these will be related to IoT. Read the report.
250 devices can connect to the common WiFi router
Most access points and wireless routers can support up to 250 devices at once. That said, bandwidth distribution varies widely depending on the provider. Furthermore, this does not mean that each device will have a strong and reliable connection speed.
There are more devices than people
In 2016 there were 7 billion people living on the planet and there were over 23 billion devices connecting to the Internet. Moreover, this means an average of 3 devices per person.
Wearables doubled in the last 3 years
The number of connected wearable devices worldwide has more than doubled in the space of three years, increasing from 325 million in 2016 to 722 million in 2019. This year there will be over a billion wearables online. Read the article.
63% of the word is using the Internet
As of April 2022, there were five billion internet users worldwide, which is 63 percent of the global population. Read the article.
Of the 5 billion Internet users, 4.65 billion were social media users. Read the article.
Devices are doubling
Over 50 billion Wi-Fi connected devices may be online by 2025. With 7.8 billion people, that’s over double the number of average devices per person!
Conclusion on Wi-Fi Facts
So there you have it, some pretty interesting Wi-Fi facts you can now use to show off to your friends! Wi-Fi has already changed the world so much over the past 3 decades and we look forward to seeing where it will take us next.
Hungry for more? Learn all about what is SNMP and how SNMP works, SNMP v2 vs v3, how to find SNMP OIDs for monitoring and more.
Got any Wi-Fi Facts to add? Tweet them at us at @domotz.