Wi-Fi is one of the great success stories of compatibility with previous versions

My domestic network is a small miracle of backward compatibility, throwing data on more than 60 devices that cover five generations of Wi-Fi. All in him, from my iPhone 15 Pro to my Nintendo Wii, manages to connect to the Internet, most of him wirelessly through my router, with surprisingly few problems. That is possible due to the essentially uninterrupted interoperability line of Wi-Fi that extends from its 1999 introduction in consumer products until today.

Wi-fi devices do this when changing. When two of them connect, the one that uses the newest generation of the standard will automatically change to the highest Wi-Fi version for which it is equipped. Making sure that it works means many compatibility tests, maintaining ancient parts of the standard and creating new ways of making existing technology more viable. This approach has led to a backward compatibility level and support for long -term devices that few devices or standards in the technological world can match.

A reason why Wi-Fi operates in this way are the glacial transitions between generations of the standard. It may take a long time to proliferate a new version: see the 2022 Apple Homepod and its use of Wi-Fi 4, which debuted in 2009. And even when new products advance, old technology still persists in homes and businesses everywhere.

Netgear Product Management Vice President Sandeep Harpalani says that backward compatibility is “intrinsic” to Wi-Fi, products that closely have the specifications should have it by design. But they still need to be proven to make sure things work. In many cases, that is done by the Wi-Fi alliance.

In early 2024The Wi-Fi alliance was composed of more than 900 member companies, many of which present their products to be tested and certified by independent test laboratories trained in Wi-Fi Alliance. According to a Wi-Fi 2020 alliance test guide, the products that pass obtain a certificate that “assures the final customer of interoperability with other network equipment compatible with standards that also carries the logo certified by Wi-Fi.” Basically, if you see that logo in a package, the product must work with any other device certified by Wi-Fi.

Since the Wi-Fi alliance, formed in 1999 as the Wireless Compatibility Alliance of Ethernet, has been Certification of Wi-Fi interoperability products since 2000That is a long list of devices. The initial certification is optional, but once a product has been certified, the Wi-Fi alliance applies that certification by requiring that each product is tested again after changes are made that affect the functionality of Wi-Fi. Otherwise, the product runs the risk of losing its badge.

However, the certification process takes time, so some companies will renounce the badge completely. The amazon Eero Mesh Enrouter Company is among which the certification is skipped. Eero CEO, Nick Weaver says that the company has a “rigorous internal certification process” and that it does not want to wait for external approval to send its products.

“The last thing we would like to do,” he says, “is to remove the product for something that we knew would be solved with an update of Day-Zero software when a customer configures it.”

Part of the Eero process is to verify the connections to obsolete devices or emulate large amounts of devices that connect at the same time to ensure that their routers can handle it. Similar to the Wi-Fi Alliance certification process, Weaver says that Eero repeats his tests for each firmware update as well.

Maintain support issues for Eero because their routers are often transmitted by customers who have replaced them with newer models, Weaver tells me. “Someone has an 85 -year -old grandmother, and wants to have a network that works,” he says.

When there are compatibility problems, it is generally reduced to the manufacturer of a given device, according to Maureen Gallagher, vice president of Marketing of the Wi-Fi alliance. Gallagher says that, more frequently, if an older device does not connect, it is not due to any disparity in the Wi-Fi version. On the other hand, they are generally non-certified devices that do not correctly implement the Wi-Fi standard or use patented characteristics that do not play well with other Wi-Fi versions. “Then, in those two cases,” she says, “backward compatibility can be compromised, but that is very, very rare.”

When things go wrong and see problems such as unusual congestion, Weaver says that it is often due to a badly done device that does not always “listen” to packages sent to him, which leads the router to try again, sometimes again and again. That eats air time and keeps other devices waiting, and becomes quickly notable in the 2.4GHz band, which is the only band devices than Wi-Fi 4 can use (except for the rare 802.11a device of 5GHz, or what could have been called Wi-Fi 2 under the current Wi-Fi Naming) and has a lot of available species compared to the 5GHz or 6GHz Bands.

If there is any threat to continue backward compatibility, it is support for the 2.4GHz band. Harpalani says he wants to see “a world where there is no 2.4GHz.” It is a narrow band, and a single connection uses half of the spectrum available to it. Their advantages begin to slide as the 2.4GHZ signals of their neighbors begin to hook the wireless work interference. That is why their transmissions resemble the trash and their discharges begin to drag when it accidentally ends in that band.

In fact, according to Gallagher, the certification ceased to require a 2.4GHz support with Wi-Fi 6, although it says that 99 percent of certified products come with that support. But getting rid of it would break the Wi-Fi connection for essentially all devices that preach Wi-Fi 4, which introduced 5GHz as a second band. It would also be devastating for smart houses, with intelligent household products enabled for Wi-Fi that are generally based on the 2.4GHZ band due to its lowest energy requirements and a greater range range. Those benefits are difficult to leave behind. Even Harpalani does not see a future without him.

All of that adds to Wi-Fi that is still rare technology without important compatibility problems. Your new phone will work with your old router. And when eventually updated that router to something better, all its devices will come along with it.