It stands for Wireless Fidelity
(like Hi-Fi for "high fidelity").
The Wi-Fi Alliance is a nonprofit international association formed in 1999 to
certify interoperability of wireless Local Area Network products based on IEEE
802.11x wireless standards. The term Wi-Fi is used interchangeably
with wireless networking. For more detail see the links at the top of
this page.
How secure is your data when you're accessing a
Public Wi-Fi connection?
If you have a laptop with built in Wi-Fi you can
access the internet in most public places these days.
Public wireless access points at places such as Starbucks,
airports, malls etc have become standard but keep
wireless
security in mind when connecting to any public wireless network.
To make it easy for patrons to connect
public hot spots as they are called are usually NOT secured. That said,
it is a good idea to make sure all document sharing settings are turned
OFF when connecting to a public wireless network.
If the business owner has secured his wireless network you will need to ask
for the encryption key to gain acess.
For full details on
Wi-Fi, wireless security and wireless types see the links at the top of this page.
