Understanding Wi-fi Alliance

The Wi-Fi Alliance is a not-for-profit organization that certifies the interoperability of wireless devices built around the 802.11 standard. The goals of the Wi-Fi Alliance are to promote interoperability of devices based on 802.11, and, presumably, to promote and enhance the standard.

For better or worse, this is no neutral organization. The members of the Wi-Fi Alliance are manufacturers that build 802.11 devices. As of this writing, there are 205 companies that belong to the Wi-Fi Alliance and more than 900 products that have been certified as Wi-Fi interoperable.

The promise that the Wi-Fi Alliance makes is that if you buy an 802.11 device with the Wi-Fi seal of certification, the device will work seamlessly with any other Wi-Fi certified device.