Wi-Fi From 802.11 to Wi-Fi 7

The first IEEE 802. 11 standard of 1997 moved data at two megabits per second over infrared or spread spectrum radio. Letter suffixes followed, 802. 11b on 2.

4 gigahertz in 1999, 802. 11a on 5 gigahertz, 802. 11g, then 802. 11n with multiple antennas in 2009.

The Wi-Fi Alliance began marketing them as numbered generations in 2018, so 802. 11ax became Wi-Fi 6 and its 6 gigahertz extension became Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi 7, standardized as 802. 11be, raises theoretical speeds past 40 gigabits per second with multi link operation.