WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) technology is what Wi-Fi is. Between adjacent Wi-Fi access points (specific hardware connected to a wired network) and mobile data devices (such as laptops, PDAs, or phones), it offers short-range wireless high-speed data communications.
802.11g, the older Wi-Fi type, can reach up to 54 Mbps in speed and is backwards compatible with 802.11b, which can only reach up to 11 Mbps.
With a maximum speed of 600 Mbps overall, or up to 150 Mbps each channel, 802.11n is the more modern standard. It can function in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency ranges, however in order to do so, a receiver must have a dual-band antenna.
The most recent (as of yet) Wi-Fi ac standard was released in 2013. Up to 500 Mbps per channel and more over 1 Gbps overall are possible with it. 802.11ac Wi-Fi exclusively uses the 5GHz frequency spectrum.
Compared to other data technologies that use cellular networks, such as UMTS, HSDPA, EDGE, and GPRS, Wi-Fi is far quicker.
An individual Wi-Fi access point can reach around 650 metres outdoors, while its range is between 30 and 100 metres indoors.
