Networks known as "WLAN" (abbreviation of "Wireless Local Area Network") or "Wi-Fi" (abbreviation of "Wireless Fidelity") are digital computer networks providing a wireless extension, via radio waves, to the Ethernet data network.
The most widespread standard today is IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), which encompasses a number of amendments:
• IEEE 802.11a: 5 GHz frequency spectrum, incompatible with the 2.4 GHz spectrum
• IEEE 802.11b: 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum, maximum data transfer rate 11 Mbit/s
• IEEE 802.11g: 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum, maximum data transfer rate 56 Mbit/s
• IEEE 802.11n: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency spectrum, maximum data transfer rate 540 Mbit/s
• IEEE 802.11ac: 5 GHz frequency spectrum, maximum (theoretical) data transfer rate 6.9 Gbit/s
• IEEE 802.11ax: 5 GHz frequency spectrum, maximum (theoretical) data transfer rate 9.6 Gbit/s
WLAN networks are designed to cover small areas and, unlike the GSM, UMTS or LTE standards, do not provide a network handover when users move around these networks.