What does WLAN stand for?

Have you heard about WLAN? Lot of times, for sure. But what does WLAN stand for? What does WLAN really mean?

WLAN is an acronym for Wireless Local Area Network. It is usually called Wireless LAN. So it’s a local network – in your home, office or company build without wires - Wireless.

Do not mix WLAN with VLAN. These acronyms are very similar, but they mean very different things. VLAN is Virtual Local Area Network, Virtual LAN. VLAN divides one switch into more different broadcast domains, different networks. So always be aware of that difference.

What about Wi-Fi? When they talk and write about wireless networks, they use acronyms Wi-Fi and WLAN. WiFi means Wireless Fidelity. Wi-Fi Alliance have issued name Wi-Fi. It means 802.11 networks. So, WLAN and Wi-Fi are the same thing. They are both used for 802.11 networks.

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED means that product is tested and certified by Wi-Fi Alliance. This certification assures you that this product acts according to 802.11 standards.

Question you may ask – what are 802.11 networks? IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) has the whole family of 802 standards.

IEEE 802.11 is family of wireless standards.

IEEE 802.11a is standard that use 5 GHz band with maximum speed of 54 Mbps.

IEEE 802.11b uses frequency band of 2.4 GHz with maximum speed of 11 Mbps.

IEEE 802.11g is also on frequency of 2.4 GHz, but its maximum speed is 54 Mbps.

802.11n isn’t released yet, it has status of draft. Maximum theoretical bandwidth is 540 Mbps. It is not decided whether it will work on 2.4 or 5 GHz.

IEEE 802.11i is an appendix to 802.11 standard that specifies new generation of wireless security.

IEEE 802.16 - Broadband Wireless Access standard.