The internet is getting too big for just one kind of Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi has come a long way from its first tentative steps in the 1990s. Over the years, as new specifications have come along, the speed at which data can be transferred over the air has increased more than 1000-fold. It now blankets universities, Starbucks coffee shops and, in some cases, entire cities. But it needs to evolve to as the Internet evolves.

The Wi-Fi Alliance is working on two new specifications -- one with much more range and one with much less. Neither one of these will replace existing Wi-Fi. The idea is that as the Internet grows -- and the popularity of Wi-Fi with it -- the technology must remain fit for purpose. WiGig, which will run at 60 Ghz, will be capable of tremendous speeds. But its range will be tiny, and it won’t be able to penetrate walls. The other, to be called IEEE 802.11ah, runs at 900 Mhz and will be able to cover vast areas, but at very low speeds.