Explaining Wi-Fi: 802.11 Standards & Generations

[@MarkTheMorose]

The Wi-fi Alliance has done a better / less confusing job than their USB equivalent organisation in giving the various implementations simple names. That said, I treasure my new CAT 6 LAN cables.

[@Uniblab8]

I have some CAT 7 cable but have never hooked it up. Does it really make that much of a difference? I have 5 PCs on my network all connected via CAT 5 cables (old fashioned? LOL).

[@John.0z]

@@Uniblab8 What are you connecting? If the slowest NIC is say 1Gbps, then there will be no difference using cables designed to work at higher phase switching frequencies. On the other hand, if you use say CAT 4 cables with a pair of 5Gbps NICs or a NIC and switch, then the cable will usually be the speed limiting element. You might find it interesting to get a dump of the line errors. If you are getting no errors, then you have no problems.

[@caturdaynite7217]

@@Uniblab8 CAT5 is fine for what you are using it for. I usually use CAT6 for heavy traffic uses, like in an office with dozens of users. For that use I run CAT6 riser (CMR) cable. Well actually, I have an electrician do it, my back isn't up to ladder work these days.

[@Uniblab8]

@@John.0z Thanks

[@Uniblab8]

@@caturdaynite7217 Great. Thanks. Much appreciated

[@RoboNuggie]

I'm blown away by this explanation Chris, in all my years online I never knew the origins, the differences (only superficially aware of the differences) between the standards and why they suddenly changed naming conventions. Thank you for this... you sir are a great teacher.

[@sbrazenor2]

Now if only we could get FreeBSD to support all of the current hardware for Wi-Fi... 🤣 As a matter of fact, I was using a new USB3 dongle for Wi-Fi 6E on Linux and I had to swap the kernel because it was added in version 6.3.4 about three or so weeks ago, but the version I had in PopOS was 6.2.16 and it didn't even acknowledge the device as anything useful. Drivers can be a pain on any OS. I still keep meaning to get more serious about using BSD based systems, but I just never stick to them. The same went for Linux, so eventually I'll get there. (I started using Linux in the 1990's, but didn't 'daily drive' a version of Linux until 2017 or so.)

[@RoboNuggie]

@@sbrazenor2 I was shocked that 802.11ac came out so long ago, and FreeBSD is no where ready yet to get that as standard....I wish they would hurry up (work is being done, but it's a slow pace). Bluetooth and Wifi - the bane of FreeBSD..... 😞

[@John.0z]

@@RoboNuggie I will dare to suggest that the actual supporting chips for 802.11ac were available some time after the specification was announced. Then the Linux diver authors get left out in the cold by some manufacturers, which adds to the delay. BSD is in much the same situation, but has more rigorous driver testing. That is usually the way, although the specs are written in consultation or collaboration with many of the chip makers, so there are exceptions.

[@sbrazenor2]

@@RoboNuggie I wonder if there's a way to find the drivers from Linux and somehow make them work for BSD. 🤔 In a quick search I did find that there's the utility ndisgen, which should be able to convert a Windows driver to a FreeBSD driver. It might be interesting to try and see what happens. It could be that you've had a solution all along, but because it's not well known (seems documented pretty well) - it's just been under the radar.

[@ChrisB_Crisps]

@RoboNuggie that it maybe because one never had the *intellectual curiosity* to get those years online mentioned and learn about it or maybe because there was no time for that in those years online

[@maartentoors]

"Miracast" is still one of the coolest WiFi iterations ever. Thank you Christopher!

[@gwgux]

This is the best video I've seen in describing the WiFi standards! Thanks for posting! As a network engineer, I love seeing stuff like this getting posted so I can direct people to it that are eager to learn!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks. :)

[@5argetech56]

I love how you made the explanation of WiFi standards and security, "Crystal Clear"! I was absorbed during the entire video. Extremely well thought out and presented. Thank you Chris. 😊

[@prscrystalized3706]

I enjoy these. Puts a lot of figures and stats into greatly needed context.

[@tomschmidt381]

Great overview of 802.11/WiFi. Like mass storage the improvement in performance of both has been amazing over the last couple of decades. As someone who's engineering career spanned both the evolution of Ethernet and WiFi I am in awe

[@tramcrazy]

That 'train' analogy was really excellent! It really helped explain to me the differences between PHY and throughput 🙂

[@loginregional]

Also consider the ONE LUMP problem and loading/unloading time. The music goes round and round... and it stutters when it comes out.

[@offspringfan89]

I swear Chris is the only one who can make me understand confusing technology standards like USB, SD cards, Wi-Fi, PCIe etc. Not only his didatics is fantastic, but so is the material that he uses to explain the topics, like tables, graphs and lists.

[@brianwood5220]

Once again, Chris, an excellent video Explaining a subject that literally goes over our heads. We take it for granted these days, but when I was growing up in the 70s there wasn't even such a thing as a personal computer. Well, not in my house anyway. Always look forward to the Sunday videos. Thanks for putting in the effort. Have a great week.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings Brian. :)

[@Argedis]

One of the earliest examples of 'Wifi Direct' that I can remember is the Playstation Portable which released in 2005. It allowed you to directly connect to another PSP with Wifi to share games and play multiplayer. I thought it was amazing

[@James_Knott]

Some notes, the channel numbers we have on 2.4 GHz originated with the original 802.11 from 1997. 802.11g is exactly the same protocol as 802.11a, but with the addition of 802.11b protection. It is this b protection that really kills performance, when b signals are present. WiFi Direct used to be called Ad Hoc, where two or more devices could connect directly.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for sharing this. :)

[@gagan.dee.p]

It's always a pleasure to see an Explaining Computers video in the feed every Sunday.

[@alanthornton3530]

Thanks Chris for this very educational & well explained video, I didn't realise there was so much more to this, I'm amazed.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for your support Alan, appreciated. :)

[@aaronperl]

I remember 802.11a and b being around at the same time, and I never understood (until this video) why 802.11a wasn't more popular despite being so much faster.

[@ExplainingComputers]

I also remember it being very confusing a the time: why did we all go straight to b? :)

[@gustavrsh]

5 GHz range isn't good, especially if you have brick walls. I still use 2.4 even if 5 GHz is 4x faster for this reason.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@gustavrsh Plus some relatively new stuff still does not support the 5GHz bandwidth which is why on my TP-Link mesh setup I had to keep my guest network at 2.4GHz to be able to connect the smart light socket on my carport, and the smart smoke alarm in my house that will alert me if I'm away from home, as they refuse to connect to the mixed 2.4/5GHz main mesh network.

[@richardsorge-]

@@CommodoreFan64 good to know You have a smart smoke alarm.... he he

[@Hugh_I]

I think it came down to two factors. The range of 802.11a on the 5Ghz band was noticeably smaller, especially with walls in between. And if I remember correctly, regulation of the 5GHz band was much more all over the place from country to country than the 2.4 Ghz band, making it much easier to just sell 2.4Ghz products world wide. It is still today much harder to get a 5 Ghz access point up and running when you try to DIY it with some random Wifi adapter rather than buying a ready made AP, because your wifi adapter may come with the wrong regulatory domain set (often just the international one with the lowest common denominator of what is allowed on what freq/channel), and just refuses to do AP things on the 5Ghz band.

[@maskedlimbo]

Your video couldn't have come at a better time. I was actually just doing my own research on how modems, and routers actually work. And wifi standards were going to be the next topic I look into. Funny timing - Thanks for your hard work. Always appreciate the information you present

[@MrStevemur]

Engineers created a standard called 802.11 which took over the world, and 20 years later one of them said “Boys, I heard from someone lately that the name of our standard isn’t very catchy. Can you believe it?”

[@burgermeister7244]

I swear, Chris. Your videos are great. I've said it before but I'll say it again: I'm a huge fan.

[@furzkram]

That was an EXCELLENT presentation shedding some light on the confusing cryptic terms used. Thanks a million for this!

[@Maddog2090]

I spent the entire of yesterday troubleshooting a slow Wi-Fi network… a reboot of the router improved things x4 XD hours was wasted… this video is brilliant, keep up the good work!

[@monkeypoohonyou]

Top class research and explanation. Amazing work as always!

[@marpintado]

Thank you Professor! Simple, precise, concise and condensed knowledge in one go!

[@TheClembo]

Thank you for your very comprehensive explanation for the wonders of Wi-Fi. It reminds me of that well known darts program back in the day where they said 'Lets look at what you could have won!' I for one will stick with Cat cabling where possible. At lease I know what to expect and what is achievable. Thanks again. ATB.

[@RolandScheidel]

I am an IT Consultant, a former software developer and I have to admit that I did not know even half of this. Thanks for educating me 🤗

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for watching. :)

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

I learned quite a lot about wi-fi from this video. Thanks, Chris! ❤️

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings on another Sunday. And thanks for your support. :)

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

@@ExplainingComputers You're welcome! Hope that all is well.

[@ardithconley2628]

Thanks Chris. I was around for all of this. It was so nice to hear this explained in such a clear and straight forward way. A video I can share.

[@jaffarbh]

Thank you Chris. There is a lot of incorrect information out there about Wi-Fi. This video is very informative and hopefully KZbin algorithm will understand :)

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks -- and I hope so too! :)

[@technoWZ5598]

I literally had no idea about how wifi worked, that is, until I found this video! Keep up the great work Chris, your channel is amazing, and it truly deserves a lot of attention. I'm excited to see what will be coming out next Monday. (I said Monday because your videos come out very late in Australia, usually between 11PM and 2AM.)

[@Uniblab8]

Chris is the best.

[@technoWZ5598]

@@flightforensics4523 Mate, there's no need to be like that. PLEASE keep your comments respectful. You know what they say: if you don't have anything nice to say, then keep your mouth shut 🤐

[@technoWZ5598]

@@Uniblab8 He sure is!

[@Sunlight91]

WiFi was the first technology to bring the Internet to you. Previously the Internet only existed at one cable connected computer in your home or in your office. With a WiFi Laptop and early phones you had Internet access in your whole home, at cafes, train stations, airports, etc... Sometimes it is still the only Internet option if you go to a foreign country and your simcard doesn't work.

[@Hugh_I]

I know what you mean, but strictly speaking in the late 90s or so my family did have internet connection to multiple computers without Wifi. With a DIY linux NAT router on the modem and good old Ethernet (of course all PCs connected together with a single bus over a coaxial cable, so everything went down when one connection failed). I even had a laptop with a PCMCIA ethernet card to plug into that. On the other hand my phone didn't have anything internet. In fact when there was internet, there was no phone - as the single phone line was blocked by the dialup modem. Of course the phone couldn't have done anything with it anyways, it had neither a display nor any kind of processor that could even remotely think about running something like a browser, or even just telnet.

[@dancan4949]

What is interesting in terms of throughput in wifi is whether there will be any full-duplex communication. As of yet, all of the 802.11 protocols have been based on half-duplex, which only allows one-way communication. Ethernet has for a long time been able to use full-duplex, making simultaneous transmission and reception between devices possible. Wireless communication is much more complicated as it introduces interference and signal attenuation, making it necessary to have good multiple access protocols and error detection at the link layer. I hope to see more breakthroughs as this technology has not yet reached its full potential.

[@davocc2405]

In Caribbean countries this was actually made into a movie strangely. It was called "PHY Rates of the Caribbean". They're expecting four sequels at least.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Ah hah! :)

[@BobDoe_69]

I am terribly weak when it comes to networking, so I really appreciate this one

[@techrescuestl]

veryvery helpful. Well done, Chris!

[@artysanmobile]

You can probably imagine how users feel about the transition to fiber. I’ve taken broadcast network systems from Enet to Fiber and the change is so profound as to seem like a new age. Enet cables the size of a tree trunk become a bundle the thickness of your finger. Of course, the change requires new hardware at both ends to take advantage, but is worth the investment for large, growing systems. What was once a terminal room full of racks can become a single small rack with energy savings on the same order. The discarded insulation, connectors, and copper can fill a small truck.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Yes, an amazing transition. :)

[@send2gl]

I like your train analogy, incredible this happens at the speed of light but as you point out many factors slow it down, along with error correction. Factor in VPN encryption too and it is amazing how it works at all. We've come a long way since Telstar.

[@ZijZijnZijnZoons]

Great introduction to WiFi! Thanks for the info!

[@richardpalmanteer9798]

Thanks, Chris for the information on the evolution of WiFi and the standards in which they are used. I look forward to the next video next Sunday, so have a good week. Thanks for all your hard work and research involved in producing these videos.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings Richard.

[@richardpalmanteer9798]

@@ExplainingComputers greetings to you as well. 😀

[@srvuk]

An excellent breakdown that will demystify some aspects for many who are not interested in intricacies.

[@jamesfearing9459]

Wonderful video, very informative. Since Christmas I’ve had a WiFi 6 mesh system in our home. It’s incredible, and it’s range covers about 1/2 acre or more around the house. It’s also crazy fast. We formerly had 3 WiFi routers, names, and passwords, now just one. Again, excellent video.

[@wamy7619]

As usual another excellent video covering the things we often take for granted. The explanations were excellent and your format perfect.

[@deanstyles2567]

Thanks Chris for another great video 🙂 I remember buying an external USB Wi-Fi adapter in 2003 thinking it'd connect to another building over a hundred metres away. It's still not that good! No mention of the CSIRO? Us Aussies claim Wi-Fi as an Australian invention 🙂

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for your support, most appreciated. I curtailed the history section, sorry. :)

[@d.barnette2687]

Greetings from across the pond near Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. This video is EXTREMELY helpful for those of us who rummage through thrift shops picking up surprisingly nice networking hardware that others don't want or need, for typically pennies on the dollar (UK: pence on the pound???). This allows one to build extensive but affordable networks and at the same time helps with understanding networking. May not be the latest/greatest/fastest hardware, but added benefit is it helps reduce e-waste. Now I ask, is this not maximum groovy???

[@ExplainingComputers]

Indeed pence in the pound, or pennies. Sounds cool. :)

[@danielpicassomunoz2752]

I always assumed the specification reflected the actual max effective transfer rate transfer f my devices. Thanks for this video!

[@leskaighin8903]

Very informative and clear. I never realised the bay difference the quality of equipment could make.

[@Linux4theMac]

The content, quality, and volume of the E C videos is amazing! Thank you E C Team!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks. :)

[@NR-bt7yz]

Awesome job as usual Chris - thanks for putting all the work into that!

[@RoboNuggie]

Thanks!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks once again for your support. :)

[@KaptainCnucklz]

Exactly what I was looking for. Surprisingly, this was infinitely more informative than all those "best adapter settings" videos. Thank you for the info. :)

[@222branko]

Thanks, 2008 -It took me over 100 hours to understand the IEEE 802.11n

[@CyborgZeta]

I switched from a single modem/router combo to a Google mesh Wi-Fi network and it made a big difference. Even though it's the earlier model and not the newer "Nest Wi-Fi", the speed and stability is much improved over what my household was using before. That, and it has WPA3.

[@genericelaf1007]

You always make amazing videos. Thanks

[@timanderson5723]

Your choice of presenting colorful items on a white background is awesome.

[@andrewwalsh531]

A great explanation of wifi standards & generations, thank you! It's always a source of frustration for me how little throughput my home network seems to achieve, though I have hardware capable of much higher performance. Determining for certain the bottlenecks, ie., A) my service provider, B) my broadband router, C) my wireless router, D) my client devices, or E) all of the above......I really need to sharpen my skills in this area :)

[@dcc1165]

YAFIV (Yet Another Fabulous and Informative Video) :). I've been in the WiFi game since it game out (with those ugly antennae you'd have to connect to the back of the laptop screen) but the content in this video has really filled in the blanks as to "what came when and how did it all evolve". Keep this content coming...even though most of us who subscribe are familiar with the topics of your videos, your content makes knowledge more thorough and therefore, more valuable. Keep up the great content!!

[@drumboy02]

taking my A+ certification exam this week and this was a great refresher, thanks!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Good luck in your exam.

[@drumboy02]

​@@ExplainingComputersThank you! Feeling pretty confident, I watch your videos every week lol

[@chriholt]

Thank you for this Chris, I never had the different generations explained in such a clear manner.

[@watertrooper]

Such a short and well put together video on Wi-Fi. Thanks!

[@michaelronan4928]

Another excellent video bringing clarity to a complex subject. Many thanks!

[@chillydoog]

This is my dude right here. I love you

[@spudhead169]

6:54 The option to view the connection properties is not a "Properties" link, it's an info icon like this => ⓘ

[@ExplainingComputers]

Well in Windows 10, as clearly shown in the video, you click on the word "Properties". There is no info icon on the screen.

[@spudhead169]

@@ExplainingComputers Sorry, must be a difference between 10 and 11.

[@AMDRADEONRUBY]

Nice a new video just in time about Wifi yeah we cant live without wifi these days for my part i have 6E and i love it .

[@grapsorz]

if i remember correct the "over the ether net" on Hawaii was the bases for the cabled net that predates what we use today. the one that was over coax. the coax was a enclosed "ether"

[@martifingers]

The usual excellent clarity brought to a complex technology.

[@lilblackduc7312]

This really cleared up my confusion over WiFi! Thank you, Professor...🇺🇸 😎👍☕

[@Capturing-Memories]

This is the video I've long been waiting for, Another great addition to the knowledge video library, I digged that USB versions one.

[@r0galik]

Very nicely explained

[@ahah8797]

Thank you Chris for an excellent summary. Very helpful for my work and my home setup. Keep it up

[@matneu27]

Thanks for another excellent explanation 👍 The view back reminded me where I equipped my first IBM ThinkPad (T 20)with an PCMCIA wifi card to make use of mobile Web experience. There where also WiFi Cards available to put in the CF Memory Card Slot of some devices like my Sony Zaurus organizer..

[@johnbee1574]

I had the first proper WiFi in 1997 it seemed like a logical step for some things I seem to remember it being a pain to get up and running

[@rv6amark]

Great video! I closely followed wifi evolution since I bought my first wifi access point (wap) in the spring of 2000. I started drifting away from following that evolution about 2010 when my local (and only) internet provider was sold to AT&T who immediately shut down the "fiber to the home" program the previous provider had been implementing. Jump forward to 2022 when I moved to a new home with fiber to the home. I immediately discovered WiFi 5 which meets my current needs very nicely. I quickly learned that old hardware limits your ability to benefit from the newer standards, but not completely. I look forward to WiFi 7 or whatever they call it.

[@JamieBainbridge]

Don't forget everyone's favourite 2.4GHz WiFi device: the microwave oven 😅

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

They need to work on that, I'm tired of having warmed up leftovers with cold interiors!

[@johnsonlam]

Very clear and detail enough for public.

[@LostInThe0zone]

Another excellent presentation. Thanks Chris.

[@AlKaBen]

Very useful indeed 👍 never knew what 802.11 meant. Thank you 🙏

[@atlascoo9647]

İ learned new thing

[@extremelydave]

Another awesome, informative video Mr Barnett. Learning what Miracast and wi-fi direct are and can do were particularly meaningful to me. Now I'm a tad more dangerous

[@geoffhodgson2492]

Thanks Chris, an excellent refresher.

[@pg5142]

Mighty fine explanation Chris. Wi-fi is so ubiquitous that we forget how it has transformed our connectivity. And now I know what Wi-fi 6 et al means. 🙂

[@syrus3k]

Modern wifi is actually really good, but you have to make sure you've got the right hardware. My work macbook gets my full fibre speed over wifi (520mbit/sec) with no jitter or anything. Love it.

[@wisteela]

Extremely informative

[@Argedis]

This explains why all my Wireless G cards were dirt slow, especially when they could qualify as "G" even at 6mbps. All the manufacturers would always boast the highest theoretical speeds. All marketing bs. Excellent video as always!

[@PeterJasper]

Thanks for an excellent presentation on WiFi standards. I think the 'user friendly' WiFiX (where X is currently 4 to 7) is easier to 'understand' than 802.11xx. It is great that WiFi is still evolving, increasing in speed and becoming more secure.

[@SuperSpecies]

An important thing to mention on throughput is that WiFi is actually half duplex, and wired Ethernet throughput speeds are specified as full duplex connections. Won't make a huge difference with very asymmetrical traffic, though being half duplex will be a lot bigger problem with more symmetrical traffic flows.

[@PS_Tube]

Greetings Chris. This is great explanatory video about Wi-Fi. This is a gem.

[@theaustralianconundrum]

Well this was a surprise!!!!!!!! Here I was connecting to Australia's Fibre network (FTTN) with the supplied modem/router to just check and see it's only 802.11/b/g/n and my router showed 65mb/sec yet my actual is 80 mb/sec. So I'm missing out on extra bandwidth and it also varies and is prone to other devices in our home. I'm on 2.4GHZ because 5 MHZ was problematic because mine is a cheap ISP router. I then connected a CAT 5 cable and now it's incredibly stable and my FS 2020 flying experience is so much smoother and stable. Thank you sir!! Again. ;-)

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings. Glad to hear that has helped you to make some improvements. :)

[@sunsethorizonstudios]

Hellloo day 3 of asking for shields and attachments for SBC nice work

[@johncundiff7075]

Brilliant as always Mr. Barnatt!

[@tommysts1920]

A great WIFI history presentation. I really enjoy all your videos 71 and still learning LoL.

[@_Digitalguy]

I knew all this (except maybe the difference between a and b) but still enjoyed the video very much!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for watching. :)

[@davidkempton2894]

Thanks for the video, Chris. Very enlightening!

[@ronaldmarshall5845]

Great Job Chris! You have made me want to go out and buy a new WiFi router lol! As always, enjoyed the infi very much!

[@matthewday7565]

There were also a few non-standard implementations, now insignificant, such as a wide channel 22 mbit mode derived from 802.11b and a similar excursion of "Super-G" derived from 802.11g. One complexity of using multiple standards together is that some equipment can be set to "Greenfield Mode", which turns off support for older protocols, which MAY improve throughput if they are not required and not present on the channel from any nearby networks. The problem with greenfield mode, is it removes the protective wrapper of lower speed busy signalling around higher speed traffic, so conflicts may occur if lower standards are present on the channel from another network

[@imkds55]

great explanation. very easy to follow, and it cleared up several questions that I have had.

[@KameraShy]

As always with EC, I learned some new useful things.

[@kote315]

I remember the times when I connected a PDA to a computer via USB (with a 3 meter extension cable) to access the Internet through it, since that PDA did not have Wi-Fi, and I really wanted to use the Internet at some distance from the PC. I also remember that bluetooth has similar operating modes and could theoretically be used instead of Wi-Fi, and even access points exist somewhere in the world, but for some reason this technology has not become popular. So we have wi-fi. Which seems to be improving with each new generation, but does not solve one fundamental problem - the passage of a signal through walls. Sub-Ghz band 802.11ah should solve this problem (as much as possible), but so far I have not seen such devices.

[@ExplainingComputers]

I remember times like these. My first ever online grocery shopping was ordering some bananas and stuff on a PDA with a modem card, and a wire from this plugged into the telephone socket! I was very ill at the time, and thought getting food that was was amazing!

[@RetroSegaDev]

Great breakdown of WiFi standards. It's not something I've particularly paid attention to from a transfer rate perspective only ever from one of security.

[@ed.puckett]

Thank you for this clear summary!

[@Colin_Ames]

Thanks for this clear explanation of Wi-Fi standards. Have a great week.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks.

[@Pazman1968]

Excellent job on another great video Chris. While not a Wi-Fi standard discussion point, it is worth noting that all the Wi-Fi standards over 1,000 Mbps won't get most users any benefit if the uplink on the access point or router is still running on a 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps) wired connection. While it is evolving, most consumer equipment does not support 2.5 or 10 Gbps ethernet. Another thing that comes into play and will cap your throughput is your ISP connection. So for most users that are consuming internet content the faster Wi-Fi technologies will likely not translate into faster real world experiences so don't waste the money on a Wi-Fi upgrade. However, support for newer security protocols like WPA3 might play a factor when considering an upgrade to aging equipment.

[@ExplainingComputers]

All very true. The average Internet connection globally remains about 100 megabits . . .

[@boboften9952]

Thank you Chris

[@ExplainingComputers]

You are most welcome. :)