Having a discussion over this in work. What does the fi part stand for?

Just found out it's fidelity.

How boring.

Just like in Hi-Fi...

Don't think it actually *means* anything in WiFi though, just an attempt to make it sound high tech for marketing types...

Rob.

I thought it was Wireless Fidelity but invented to sound like HiFi...

This is from http://wi-fiplanet.webopedia.com/TERM/w/Wi_Fi.html

Short for wireless fidelity and is meant to be used generically when referring of any type of 802.11 network, whether 802.11b, 802.11a, dual-band, etc. The term is promulgated by the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Any products tested and approved as "Wi-Fi Certified" (a registered trademark) by the Wi-Fi Alliance are certified as interoperable with each other, even if they are from different manufacturers. A user with a "Wi-Fi Certified" product can use any brand of access point with any other brand of client hardware that also is certified. Typically, however, any Wi-Fi product using the same radio frequency (for example, 2.4GHz for 802.11b or 11g, 5GHz for 802.11a) will work with any other, even if not "Wi-Fi Certified."

Formerly, the term "Wi-Fi" was used only in place of the 2.4GHz 802.11b standard, in the same way that "Ethernet" is used in place of IEEE 802.3. The Alliance expanded the generic use of the term in an attempt to stop confusion about wireless LAN interoperability.

Chaos