When you connect to WiFi, you're using a technology governed by a set of standards. These standards ensure that a laptop from one company can talk to a wireless router from another. The group responsible for these rules is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE. They publish standards under the name "802.11," followed by a letter or two.

Each new standard represents a leap forward, bringing faster speeds, better reliability, and new features. Think of them as different generations of the same technology, each building on the last.

The story of modern WiFi begins with two standards that emerged around the same time, offering very different experiences.

802.11b was the first to be widely adopted. It operated on the 2.4 GHz frequency and offered a maximum speed of 11 megabits per second (Mbps). At the time, this was a revolutionary jump from dial-up internet.

802.11a was the faster, less common alternative. It used the 5 GHz frequency to reach speeds of 54 Mbps. However, the higher frequency meant a shorter range, and the hardware was more expensive. Because of this, it was mostly found in business settings.

As more devices came online, the need for speed and capacity grew. The next wave of standards focused on moving much more data, much more efficiently.

802.11n, later branded Wi-Fi 4, was a huge leap. It introduced MIMO, which is like opening up multiple lanes on a highway instead of just one. Data could travel in parallel streams between the router and your device, dramatically increasing speed. 802.11n could reach speeds up to 600 Mbps and was the first standard to operate on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands simultaneously.

802.11ac, or Wi-Fi 5, refined the technologies of its predecessor. It focused almost exclusively on the cleaner, faster 5 GHz band, offered much wider channels for data to travel through, and improved MIMO. This pushed theoretical speeds past 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) for the first time.

802.11ax, now known as Wi-Fi 6 (and its successor, Wi-Fi 6E), is about more than just peak speed. Its biggest innovation is efficiency. It introduced a technology called OFDMA, which allows a router to communicate with multiple devices at the exact same time within the same channel. Think of it like a delivery truck that can drop off packages to multiple houses on the same street in one trip, rather than making a separate trip for each house. This drastically reduces congestion and improves performance in environments with many connected devices, like a busy home or office.

To simplify things, the Wi-Fi Alliance introduced a simpler naming system starting with Wi-Fi 4. Here’s how the standards stack up.

Each new standard is a step forward, designed to meet the growing demands of our increasingly connected world.