Wi-Fi is 20 years old

It has become automatic for us to log on to the Internet through W-Fi. Wherever we go, through airports, restaurants, and hotels, it is common that Wi-Fi is available for free to the customers and visitors. Wi-Fi has made life easier in general and it has made it much easier to communicate. It has certainly changed our social and personal lives. With the popularity of tablets and Ipads, it has become so common to connect to Wi-Fi rather than the conventional dial-up Internet connection. Compatible devices can connect to each other over Wi-Fi through a wireless access point as well as to connected Ethernet devices and may use it to access the Internet. Such an access point (or hotspot) has a range of about 20 meters (66 feet) indoors and a greater range outdoors. Hotspot coverage can be as small as a single room with walls that block radio waves, or as large as many square kilometers achieved by using overlapping access points. In 1999, the Wi-Fi Alliance was formed as a trade association to hold the Wi-Fi trademark. Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity. uses a large number of patents held by many different organizations. In April 2009, 14 technology companies agreed to pay CSIRO $1 billion for infringements on CSIRO patents. This led to Australia labeling Wi-Fi as an Australian invention. The name Wi-Fi was commercially used at least as early as August 1999, and officially launched in early October 1999, precisely 20 years ago.