Some topics covered in Beyond Everywhere

  • The 1985 FCC decision opening up the 2.4 gigahertz band for unlicensed, low-power use

  • Early proprietary and custom networks, including the Chicago Board of Trade’s network as well as those developed by pioneering wireless LAN companies (NCR, Proxim, Symbol, O’Neill, Telesystems, Agilis)

  • The early days of IEEE 802.11, trying to make progress amidst bitter technical disagreements

  • The battles determining the foundation protocol for the IEEE standard, ultimately won by the Symbol/NCR/Xircom DFWMAC protocol proposal

  • The push for speed greater than 10 megabits, and the wild and controversial voting ultimately resulting in the selection of Lucent and Harris’s joint proposal, creating the fully blueprint for Wi-Fi

  • Proxim’s efforts to establish its technology as a de facto standard counter to the developing IEEE standard

  • 3Com’s search for a wireless LAN development partner, resulting in the 3Com/Symbol/Harris “Trilogy” partnership — the progenitor of the Wi-Fi Alliance

  • The initial attempts to reach accommodation with HomeRF, followed by war as it became more Proxim-centric

  • The problem for HomeRF with delays in the FCC’s Wideband FH deliberations

  • The formation of a new alliance to support 802.11 by 3Com, Symbol, Harris, Lucent, Aironet, and Nokia — WECA, soon to be rebranded the Wi-Fi Alliance

  • Steve Jobs’s showmanship par-excellence as he reveals Apple’s new 802.11 “Airport” product

  • The development of the Wi-Fi brand name by WECA, and the launch event unveiling Wi-Fi to the public

  • The establishment of the Wi-Fi certification program

  • The crisis resulting from the cracking of WEP (Wi-Fi’s initial encryption scheme), and the partnership established between WECA and IEEE in the search for a solution

  • The complications with 802.11a — will it also be called Wi-Fi?

  • Jumping the gun — pre-standard and uncertified 802.11g products hit the market and foul up Wi-Fi’s reputation for interoperability

  • Getting swamped — extreme demand for 802.11g necessitates a tripling of the Wi-Fi Alliance’s certification labs, increased staffing, and the Alliance’s own R&D lab

  • The battle against China’s “WAPI” alternative to Wi-Fi as this technical dispute becomes a subject of international trade negotiations

  • The drama created by putting Wi-Fi in cellphones, leading to a love/hate relationship between the Wi-Fi and cellular industries

  • The battles over the use of unlicensed bands by the cellular industry with LTE-U and LAA

  • Thermostats, cameras, game controllers, refrigerators — how could the Wi-Fi Alliance ensure interoperability with this explosion of gizmos?

  • The rise of Smart TVs with the advent of 802.11n — actually with the advent of the Wi-Fi 802.11n draft 2.0 certification program

  • Wi-Fi in the Time of COVID

And so much more …