What is the difference between WLAN and Wi-Fi?

If you’re a Wi-Fi professional or have a CWNP certification, you probably already know the technical difference between WLAN and Wi-Fi. But these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, and this article by our friend Lee Badman does a nice job of explaining the difference in a “square is a rectangle but not all rectangles are squares” type of way. Plus, the article lists a couple of handy diagrams you can share with someone who might be learning networking terminology.

11/8 EDIT: TechTarget might try to make you create a free account to read this article, but I checked the link in incognito mode today without a TT account and it let me in. Thanks @steve.poirier for the heads up about the gated content!

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I prefer not providing an email address just to read an article. Here is a nice Youtube video explaining the answer,

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@steve.poirier Couldn’t agree more! All articles on MetaGeek Community are publicly available to read without signing in, and the SearchNetworking article isn’t behind a gated form. Was there another step that you encountered where you were required to enter an email address? (If so, please let me know because that wasn’t my intent.)

Also, thanks so much for posting the video. Sometimes it’s nice to be able to digest information by watching instead of reading. Good stuff!

I have attached a screenshot of the page I see when using the link in your post. My guess is that you have a TechTarget account already.