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1999Primary source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Wi-Fi reaches consumers with 802.11b

An 11-megabit wireless standard and Apple's AirPort convince ordinary buyers to cut the cable

On the timeline · around 1999 · The Web and the Dot-Com BoomThe Web and the Dot-Com BoomSocial, Mobile, and the CloudWi-Fi reaches consumers with 802.11b199419961998200020022004

Quick facts

Original standard
IEEE 802.11 (1997), up to 2 Mbit/s
Consumer breakthrough standard
IEEE 802.11b (1999), up to 11 Mbit/s
First mass-market product
Apple AirPort base station and iBook, 1999
Frequency band
2.4 GHz (unlicensed)

What happened

The IEEE ratified the original 802.11 wireless networking standard in 1997, transmitting at up to 2 megabits per second over unlicensed 2.4 GHz radio spectrum, too slow for most practical use. In 1999, the IEEE ratified 802.11b, raising the top speed to 11 megabits per second, still on the 2.4 GHz band, fast enough to be genuinely useful for general computing. Apple's commercial breakthrough that same year, its AirPort wireless base station bundled with the iBook laptop, was the first mass-marketed consumer product built around the new standard.

Why it matters

802.11b's jump to 11 Mbps, more than five times the original standard's speed, is what turned wireless networking from a niche technology into something worth putting in an ordinary consumer laptop, and it was the platform that carried the word 'Wi-Fi' into everyday language.

How we know

The IEEE Standards Association's own account of Wi-Fi's evolution documents the 1997 and 1999 standards, their data rates, and Apple's AirPort launch as the technology's first major consumer product.

Sources

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Wi-Fi reaches consumers with 802.11b · The Internet and Computing · SourcedStory