Are you fluent in wireless? Our wifi glossary gathers and explains the technical terms, abbreviations, and acronyms that abound when discussing wireless solutions and standards.
Here we have tried to compile the most common and some slightly lesser-known concepts in an up to date overview. Notice anything missing? Let us know!
| Term | Explanation |
|---|---|
| antenna | An antenna is a component of a device dedicated to sending and/or receiving wireless signals. All devices that need to send and receive signals must have antennas, but not all have visible and external antennas. See also: Why internal antennas are better for home wifi |
| airtime | Airtime is a measure of the wireless capacity in a given area and is measured in percentages. Airtime is not limited per network or access point – therefore, it can be consumed by interference from nearby networks, among other things. See also: Bad apple: How one gadget with poor coverage can break your wireless network |
| access point | An access point has one or more wireless radios that allow other devices to connect wirelessly to connect to the internet. The most common forms of access points are wireless routers, wifi repeaters, and standalone wireless access points. See also: Router, repeater, and access point — what’s the difference? |
| bad apple | A bad apple is a device that has such poor coverage that it uses up large parts of the wireless capacity (airtime) and thus ruins performance for everyone on the network. See also: Bad apple: How one gadget with poor coverage can break your wireless network |
| Beamforming | Also known as spatial filtering, beamforming is a technology that shapes/directs the wireless signal towards a wireless client/device to deliver a stronger signal. |
| band steering | A form of client steering, functionality in the wireless access point that allows all clients to connect to the available frequency band that provides the best wireless performance. See also: Why you get better wifi with band steering |
| Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) | A wifi mechanism to measure whether a channel is available / in use / affected by significant interference. See also Airtime. |
| dbm | Wi-Fi signal strength is measured in dBm, which is short for decibel-milliwatt. It is given in negative values, and the signal strength close to a wireless access point will normally be -30 dBm. See also: Good wireless signal strength — what is required? |
| DFS | DFS is short for Dynamic Frequency Selection. The term usually describes functionality that allows a wireless channel to prioritize radar signals. This means that an access point that detects that a radar is using the same channel must switch to a channel where no radar signals are being sent. See also: Radar and wireless network congestion along the coast |
| coverage | Wireless coverage is a term used to describe how far wireless signals reach at a satisfactory strength. Coverage in an area is best measured by creating a heatmap. See also: Map your wireless network with a heatmapper |
| dipole antenna | A dipole antenna, the most common type of external antenna, often used on routers and other wireless access point devices. See also: That’s why internal antennas are best for wireless at home |
| frequency band | A frequency band is a section of a lager frequency area. Wireless networks or wifi mainly operate on two frequency bands: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. 2.4 GHz is the frequency band used by older wireless technologies (802.11 b/g/n), and in practice it is the slowest network. Because the signals on this frequency band have the longest range, this band is also extremely susceptible to noise or interference from other wireless networks and wireless devices such as Bluetooth and baby monitors, and microwave ovens. 5 GHz is the frequency band used by newer wireless standards such as 802.11ac, as well as some of the older ones (802.11 a/n), and that in practice provides the fastest network. It is known to provide the wireless signals with the shortest reach, but the highest speeds/best performance, which is why it is the preferred frequency band for new laptops and (most) wireless devices. Because signals on this frequency band has a shorter range, it is also common to need multiple wireless access points to achieve complete coverage in a home. See also: Why Band Steering Means Better Wi-Fi Wifi 6e: The Internet on 6 GHz |
| Fribruksforskriften (Norwegian) | Regulation that sets the legal limits for wireless communication in Norway, including among other things frequency and permitted signal strengths. See also: Don’t. Boost. Your Wi-Fi Signal. |
| interference | Interference is disruptions or noise that destroys the wireless signals and consumes airtime in an area. Sources of interference can be neighboring networks, multiple networks in the same house, microwaves, baby monitors, and wireless devices that use Bluetooth. Interference is currently mainly a problem in the 2.4 GHz frequency band. See also: 10 things that interfere with and block wifi signals |
| IoT | Internet of Things, the internet of things, denotes clients or devices that collect and exchange data, usually over a wireless internet connection. This can be large devices or machines, such as vehicles, and tiny devices, such as sensors embedded in clothes. IoT devices in the home can be smart meters for electricity or bathroom scales that synchronize with your online workout diary.. See also: Wireless Standards for Wifi and Smart Homes Experts Respond: Are IoT and Wi-Fi Mutually Destructive? |
| channel | A given area of a frequency band. Rules for which channels are allowed to be used for private wireless communication vary between countries and regions. For example, channel 13 on the 2.4 GHz band is commonly used in Europe, but not allowed in the United States. When many wireless networks in the same area transmit on the same channel, it can cause a lot of interference and have devastating effects on performance. To find out what channels are in use in an area, you can use a wifi scanner. The channel an access point transmits on can normally be controlled via web-based settings for the access point. See also: Checklist When You Cannot Connect to Wifi (or Get Thrown Off) Locating Good Channels and Bad Neighbors with a Wi-Fi Scanner |
| channel width | Or channel bandwidth – how much of the frequency band is the channel using. It is possible to combine multiple channels into one wider channel for better network performance, but this can create its own challenges. See also: Recommended channel widths for home wifi |
| client | Computers, mobile phones, tablets, and all other devices that need to connect to the wireless network are wireless clients. With the Internet of things, the number of clients–devices–per home is increasing significantly. |
| client steering | Functionality in wireless access points that allows each device to connect to the available access point that provides the best signal strength and performance. See also: Sticky clients: When gadgets get stuck on poor wifi coverage |
| MAC address | A unique code consisting of 12 characters that networks use to identify connected devices. (MAC = media access control.) MAC can be sensitive information in combination with other personal data, hiding it via so-called MAC randomization should therefore increase privacy, but it can also create problems for some types of services. Read more: How to turn off MAC randomization in wifi clients |
| mesh (or mesh network) | A mesh network is a network where several devices (nodes) connect directly to each other without having to go through a central server or hub. The Norwegian term here is actually “maskenettverk”, but this is very infrequently used. A mesh wifi network is two or more access points that act as one, distributed throughout a home, building, or over a larger area to provide access to the same wireless network. Read more: Wifi mesh: What is it and when do you need it? |
| MU-MIMO | MU-MIMO stands for “multi-user multiple input-multiple output”. Traditional wireless communication between access point and client is turn-based – several clients take turns to communicate with the the access point at high speed. With MU-MIMO technology, routers and other access points can use information about the location of the clients in the room to have open communication streams with several clients at the same time. This is more efficient and provides better performance for users. MU-MIMO is still relatively new technology and not supported by most routers and access points on the market. See also: 802.11ac Wave 2: What’s new? |
| PIFA | Planar Inverted F Antenna, an antenna that looks like a lying F and the most common form of internal/indoor antenna used for wireless equipment. See also: Why internal antennas are better for home wifi |
| radio | Radio waves are the most common form of wireless communication. All Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices contain radio transmitters and receivers, connected to internal or external antennas. A device that can transmit on multiple frequency bands typically has one radio for each frequency band. See also: The history of wifi |
| RSSI | Received Signal Strength Indication, how strong a signal is received by the antenna of a wireless device. See also: Good wireless signal strength — what is required? |
| router | These days, combining router, modem, and wireless access point functionality in a single integrated access device (IAD) is very common. The modem is needed to connect to the internet, the router for multiple machines and devices to be able to share the same internet access, and the access point for them to do so over Wi-Fi. Even when the modem is separate, almost all routers for home use come with integrated wifi. See also: Router, repeater, and access point — what’s the difference? |
| SSID | The network name that wireless access points transmit so that you can find the network and connect to it. An SSID can be shared between several access points on the same wireless network. In some cases, the SSID is set to be hidden, but will still be easy to find with, for example, a wifi scanner. See also: Five things to consider when choosing a network name (SSID) |
| sticky client | A sticky client is a device that is connected to an access point that no longer provides good coverage, but still does not switch to a better access point. See also: Sticky clients: When gadgets get stuck on poor wifi coverage |
| access point | See access point. |
| Internet of Things | Often just referred to as “IoT”. Denotes clients or devices that collect and exchange data over an internet connection, usually wireless. This can be large devices or machines, such as vehicles, and tiny devices, such as sensors embedded in clothes. IoT devices in the home can be, for example, smart meters for electricity, or bathroom scales that sync with an online health diary. See also: Wireless Standards for Wifi and Smart Homes Experts Respond: Are IoT and Wi-Fi Mutually Destructive? |
| wifi | Originally a brand name from the Wi-Fi Alliance, which covers all products based on the 802.11 standards. It started as a play on “hi-fi” (high fidelity), used about high quality audio. See also: The History of Wifi Wireless Standards for Wifi and Smart Homes Wi-Fi 7, 6, 5, 4 … New Wi-Fi Designations and Their Meanings |
| WLAN | Wireless Local Area Network, formal term for wireless local area networks that use the IEEE 802.11 standards. See Wifi. |
| wi-fi-repeater | A wifi repeater, is a wireless device that forwards or repeats the signals from a wireless router to cover a larger area. See also: Router, repeater, and access point — what’s the difference? Five reasons not to buy a wifi repeater |
| WPA, WPA2, WPA3, WEP | Encryption standards that will secure the wireless communication between each client and the access point. |
Article by Jorunn Danielsen