Wi‑Fi, as we use the term today, traces its “invention” to the creation of the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard in 1997, which is widely treated as the birth of modern Wi‑Fi.

Quick Scoop: Key Dates

  • Late 19th century: Heinrich Hertz experimentally proves the existence of electromagnetic waves, laying the theoretical foundation for all wireless communication.
  • 1971: ALOHAnet in Hawaii becomes one of the first wireless packet data networks and an important precursor to Wi‑Fi‑style networking.
  • 1991: NCR Corporation and AT&T develop WaveLAN, a wireless LAN system often credited as the direct precursor to Wi‑Fi.
  • 1992: Australia’s CSIRO team (including John O’Sullivan) patents a key technique for robust wireless LAN transmission that later becomes part of Wi‑Fi standards.
  • 1997: IEEE ratifies the 802.11 standard (2 Mbps at 2.4 GHz), commonly cited as the moment Wi‑Fi was “invented” in its recognizable, standardized form.

So if you just need the short, practical answer to “when was Wi‑Fi invented?”:

  • The core standard that defines Wi‑Fi was introduced in 1997 , after decades of earlier wireless and networking research.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.