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Today a friend asked me why my newly bought phone shows “Wireless Local Area Network” while my friend’s phone shows Wi-Fi. Why are there so many names for the same thing? Many people believe that Wireless Local Area Network = Wi-Fi, but actually, they are not the same.
Wi-Fi Is Not WLAN
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is different from Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi). The names themselves indicate a significant difference.
In simple terms, WLAN is a general term for wireless local area networks, while Wi-Fi is just a commercial certification standard of WLAN! Products with Wi-Fi certification comply with the IEEE 802.11abgn and ac wireless network specifications. It is currently the most widely used WLAN standard, but it does not equal WLAN.
Some friends might say, isn’t that just wireless now? Wireless Local Area Network is a functional application of wireless + local area network, and there are many standards to achieve this function. The most commonly used is the WLAN under the Wi-Fi standard. For example, China has its own wireless technology standard—WAPI!
At the ISO/IEC JTC1/SC6 meeting in 2010, the WAPI wireless local area network technology standard, led by China, received unanimous agreement from members of more than 10 countries, including the USA, UK, and France, to promote it as an international standard in independent text form. Although this standard has not become popular, it is another technical standard besides Wi-Fi.
Moreover, many years ago, there was a WIMAX standard, which is a technical standard that integrates wireless local area networks and communication networks. Currently, this technology is no longer in demand.
Why Do Some Phones Display Wi-Fi?
Regarding the question from my friend about why some phones display Wi-Fi while others show Wireless Local Area Network, the reason is closely related to what was mentioned earlier.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s policy in 2010, any phone equipped with WAPI functionality can pass network access testing and obtain a network access permit. The principle is that such phones can use WAPI access when there is a WAPI network available. If there are no wireless signals that meet the WAPI technical standard, they can access the wireless network (WLAN) via Wi-Fi. However, pure Wi-Fi phones cannot be sold!
This explains the difference in wireless name display on phones: those showing Wireless Local Area Network are compliant with China’s relevant policies, while phones sold in other regions do not need to meet WAPI standards and thus simplify the label to Wi-Fi! In other words, those displaying Wi-Fi are definitely gray market phones.
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