---
name: Wi-Fi
slug: wifi
type: protocol / ambient infrastructure
status: running
version: 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7)
released: 1997-07-21
maintainer: IEEE 802.11 Working Group
dependencies:
  - router
  - electromagnetic spectrum
  - electricity
  - human impatience
license: Invisible Commons
tags:
  - wireless
  - signal
  - connectivity
  - invisible architecture
  - modern air
---

Wi-Fi

What it actually is

Invisible light you bathe in, carrying other people's voices through your walls.

How it works

A router exhales. Radio waves ripple outward at 2.4 or 5 or 6 gigahertz. Your device inhales. Packets arrive in order, or scramble and reassemble, or drop entirely into the silence between things.

The handshake happens before you notice. Authentication, association, four-way exchange of keys. Then: the stream opens. You watch a stranger cry on a video call. The signal does not care. It carries everything with equal indifference.

Distance bleeds the signal. Walls drink it. A microwave oven running nearby whispers interference into the 2.4 band like a neighbor who will not stop talking.

Features

Propagates through air, drywall, furniture, and most kinds of grief
Supports up to 46 Gbps theoretical throughput (theoretical is doing heavy lifting there)
WPA3 encryption: a locked door inside an open field
Seamless roaming between access points, sometimes
Operates in three frequency bands, each with its own personality:

Band	Range	Speed	Vibe
2.4 GHz	Far	Slow	Tired but loyal
5 GHz	Near	Fast	Brilliant, fragile
6 GHz	Nearest	Fastest	New money

Known bugs

Signal strength: five bars in the kitchen, one bar in the next room
Password stored nowhere anyone can find it
Guest network created in 2019, still named "NETGEAR_EXT", still password "password1"
Rebooting the router fixes it. No one knows why. No one will ever know why.
The dead zone at the end of the hallway. Always. Every house.

Edge cases

"It works fine when you're not using it."

When too many devices speak at once, the spectrum buckles. A stadium full of phones. A conference room at 9am. The air becomes a crowd. Packets wait their turn or give up and try again like polite, exhausted commuters.

Rain does not matter much. Human bodies matter more. Stand between the router and the device. Feel yourself, briefly, as interference.

Configuration

ssid: "something ironic or your last name"
password: "the one you reuse everywhere"
channel: auto  # you will never change this
band_steering: enabled  # devices will ignore this
qos: enabled  # also ignored
hidden_network: false  # security theater

Changelog

Wi-Fi 1 (1997): 2 Mbps. A miracle. A miracle no one could use.
Wi-Fi 4 (2009): The shape the air takes that most people alive still remember.
Wi-Fi 6 (2019): Dense environments. Apartments stacked on apartments. The city breathing together.
Wi-Fi 7 (2024): Faster than your ability to need it faster.

FAQ

Is it safe? The air was already full of signals. You arrived late.

Why is it slow? Ask entropy. Ask your neighbors streaming in 4K. Ask the router that has not rested in four years.

What happens when it goes out? A quiet that used to be normal. You remember boredom, briefly, like a word in a language you spoke as a child.

drafting spec…