Difference between WIFI and WLAN

Dear all,

The WIFI and WLAN, both are same or not?
If difference means, Please explain me.


Thanks in advance
R. balasubramania raju

Raju_epigon said:

Dear all,

The WIFI and WLAN, both are same or not?
If difference means, Please explain me.


Thanks in advance
R. balasubramania raju

Click to expand...

WiFi (might stand for Wireless Fidelity) is a general wireless standard/term governed/coined by Wi-Fi Alliance.
The Alliance uses this term to describe many wireless specific technologies like WLAN( IEEE 802.11), PAN and may be WiFi direct and similar technologies.

Wi-Fi stands for Wireless fidelity, it is a gendral term used to call 802.11a/b/g.
WLAN stands for all 802.11 stands, it includes a/b/g/d/h/j/i.

But no one told the difference.... the fullform of the words never makes the difference.....

WIFI -is a service & WLAN - is application which uses the wifi/wimax service
just as Wireless lan is incomplete without internet ...subscribe either for wifi/wimax or wired Internet ie:broadband

WLAN is a Group of Computers Connected wirelessly, One more of Wireless lan is Peer to peer , ie connection of 2 computers with out a physical media,and next is infrastructure mode where more than 2 computers involved, the latter one is widely used for internet access with a wireless router

Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance an organization,Wi-Fi is a technology and set of standards that allows for the implementation of WLANs., as this is a Set of standards followed by industry, its easy to use wifi anywhere, ie. its a widely accepted standard....

look here Difference Between WLAN and WI-FI | Difference Between | WLAN vs WI-FI

Dear Mr. Sivaram, If a wireless module supports WLAN means, is it supporting to WIFI?

Raju_epigon said:

Dear Mr. Sivaram, If a wireless module supports WLAN means, is it supporting to WIFI?

Click to expand...

WLAN in general refers to any LAN (Local Area Network) that a user can create/connect to via a wireless/radio connection. IEEE 802.11 is the foremost standard for wireless LANs.

As I stated before WiFi is a trademark coined by Wi-Fi Alliance to brand devices compliant to IEEE 802.11 standards.
There might be a lot of devices which confirm to the IEEE 802.11 standards but are not certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance and hence might not have "WiFi" logo on them.

Simply put, All devices with a "WiFi" logo would support WLAN but the other way around might not be true.