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WiFi is a primarily a marketing term used by the WiFi Alliance to denote interoperability between different vendors.
If you buy a WiFi compliant Access Point from one manufacturer and a WiFi client (PCMCIA card) form another manufacturer, you know they will both work together; as they are both WiFi compliant.
It basically means they both comply with the 802.11 standards, so they should work together.
WiFi is often used by retailers, as terms like 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g scare away non-technical consumers.
The WiFi Alliance has also defined an enhanced security standard called WPA (WiFi Protected Access). Without going into too much technical detail (ask me in this thread if you DO want more technical detail), WPA greatly improves the security of wireless LANs.
Try to buy an Access Point that supports WPA if possible.
There are three current 802.11 standards that denote the PHY layers (ie, the actual WLANs themselves).
802.11b
2.4Ghz
11 Mb/s
The most common and cheapest standard. Provides a data rate of 11Mb/s which equates to actual throughput of around 6Mb/s. Perfect for most home networks. Uses the same frequency ranges as baby monitors, analogue cordless phones and microwave ovens(!).
802.11a
5Ghz
54Mb/s
Operates in a higher frequency range and provides more bandwidth. More expensive and not as common as 802.11b or 802.11g. I wouldn't buy this for a home network, but I'm going to deploy it in the enterprise WLAN I manage.
802.11g
54Mb/s
2.4Ghz
Newest standard and is "backwards compatible" with 802.11b (which is useful for existing deployed networks). Provides up to 54Mb/s data rate, which equates to around 22 Mb/s throughput. This is good if you expect to use your WLAN to share files amongst several computers. If you have only a single computer and an internet connection, selecting this higher speed standard will make no difference.
There is a whole "alphabet soup" of additional 802.11 standards out there, including:
802.11d
802.11e
802.11f
802.11h
802.11i (unratified)
802.11j
802.11m
802.11.n (unratified)
I could go on, but as a home user you don't need to understand or even know about any of them.
Post any more questions you may have and I'll be delighted to answer.
Mr Mephisto
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