Computer network

Computer network

Difference between Wi-Fi and WLAN

Is WLAN and WiFi the same thing?

Technically, WLAN means any wireless local area network no matter what technology is used and Wi-Fi is a type of WLAN that follows the IEEE 802.11 standards which most WLANs in use today do, that’s why they are commonly used interchangeably. Wi-Fi as a name for the standard is a trademark(商标) of the Wi-Fi Alliance(联盟).

Difference

While wireless LANs refer to any local area network (LAN) that a mobile user can connect to through a wireless (radio) connection; Wi-Fi (short for “wireless fidelity”) is a term for certain types of WLANs that use specifications(规范) in the 802.11 wireless protocol family.

LAN指的就是移动设备可以通过无线链接到网络(WiFi or WLAN networks use radio waves to exchange information between devices.)
Wi-Fi指用于特定类型的wlan，使用的是802.11 wireless protocol family 规范。