LAN - Local Area Networks - can be done connecting devices using wires (like UTP, STP, fiber optics) and correspondent protocols (Ethernet, for instance) or by some kind of wireless communication (radio). WiFi is just one way to do a wireless LAN, based on the standard IEEE 802.11 and registered by the Wi-Fi Alliance.
As mentioned, you can implement a wireless LAN in a number of ways, some of which are merely existing standards where air is the physical medium. These are not WiFi, however. WiFi includes both the keying, transmission media, RF management and other key functions and features to allow for cooperative sharing of the RF space by nodes spreads over a wide area.
As for wireless LAN: 802.3 with point to point RF connections is an example,. Another example is FSO ( Free Space Optics ) which would be analogous to taking a fiber optic transciever and connecting it to a wide beam diameter higher powered laser. Both of these are wireless, neither is WiFi. Most of these technologies are point to point using highly directional Tx and Rx stations. Remember Ethernet started out using the Ether as the physical transmission medium. Later the RF was then put on coax, then SPT, then UTP, then envoded on lasers. But it started as a wireless technology.
WLAN, short for Wireless Local Area Network and sometimes called Wireless LAN, is a network of computers over distances of a few hundred feet that uses high frequency radio signals to transmit and receive data.
WI-FI means Wireless Fidelity. The term is actually a trademark name used to brand products that belong to a category of WLAN devices. The devices or hardware branded with the WI-FI trademark is based on the standards stated by IEEE 802.11. In most cases, WI-FI is considered by the majority as synonymous to the actual standard itself.
1. WLAN is a type of computer network in a relatively small area that dismisses the use of physical means of interconnectivity.
2. WI-FI is a trademark name to brand devices compliant to IEEE 802.11 standards.
3. Devices in a WLAN essentially use WI-FI branded products.
4. A WI-FI ready device simply means that it is ready for network operation within a WLAN.
WLAN means Wireless LAN, it can be implemented in several ways. So to be clear
- WLAN uses electromagnetic wave signals to transmit and receive data within the network.
- WI-FI is a one the standards used to exchange data without wires. technically WIFI is the IEEE802.11 standard.
- Conclusion ; WiFI is a kind of WLANs
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