Let’s face it, just about every internet user has needed to connect to a random Wi-Fi network at one time or another, but the last thing you’d expect is for one of them to be named “It Hurts When IP”. Continue reading to see forty-two more hilarious wireless network names – plus a bonus video and history.
History:
- The term Wi-Fi, first used commercially in August 1999, was coined by a brand-consulting firm called Interbrand Corporation.
- The Wi-Fi Alliance had hired Interbrand to determine a name that was “a little catchier than ‘IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence'”.
- Belanger also stated that Interbrand invented Wi-Fi as a play on words with Hi-Fi (high fidelity), and also created the Wi-Fi logo.
The Wi-Fi Alliance initially used an advertising slogan for Wi-Fi, “The Standard for Wireless Fidelity”,[16] but later removed the phrase from their marketing.
- Despite this, some documents from the Alliance dated 2003 and 2004 still contain the term Wireless Fidelity.[19][20] There was no official statement related to the dropping of the term.
- The yin-yang Wi-Fi logo indicates the certification of a product for interoperability.
- Non-Wi-Fi technologies intended for fixed points such as Motorola Canopy are usually described as fixed wireless.
- Alternative wireless technologies include mobile phone standards such as 2G, 3G or 4G.
