What is the name of the IEEE standard for Wi-Fi?
Answer
IEEE 802.11
Answer
IEEE 802.11
The IEEE standard for Wi-Fi is IEEE 802.11.
IEEE 802.11 is the family of standards defining wireless local area networking, including rules for the medium-access-control layer and physical-layer radio communications. The original standard was published in 1997, and later amendments introduced the technologies used by successive generations of wireless networks.
Consumers usually encounter branded names such as Wi-Fi 4, Wi-Fi 5, and Wi-Fi 6, but those labels correspond to IEEE amendments within the broader 802.11 family. For example, 802.11n is marketed as Wi-Fi 4, 802.11ac as Wi-Fi 5, and 802.11ax as Wi-Fi 6. Wi-Fi itself is an industry certification and branding program associated with interoperable wireless products.
The alternatives refer to other IEEE networking areas: 802.3 covers Ethernet, 802.15 covers wireless personal-area networks such as Bluetooth-related standards, and 802.16 covers wireless metropolitan-area networking. Thus, 802.11 is the single canonical answer.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026