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From: Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: "Safe" cell phone WiFi capabilities?
Date: Fri, 17 May 2024 09:30:47 -0700
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On 5/17/2024 5:55 AM, Dan Purgert wrote:
> On 2024-05-17, Don Y wrote:
>> For "nominal" cell phones (i.e., taking into consideration
>> that not ever subscriber buys The Latest and Greatest),
>> what's the "base" WiFi capability one would feel comfortable
>> assuming?  ac?  ax?
> 
> Assuming you're limiting the question to the set of cellphones that
> actually implement wifi, 802.11b ... but what are you *REALLY* trying to
> ask for?

There are several different "generations" of WiFi, each with
different effective (data) bandwidths.

The most commonly referenced include:  802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g,
802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax and, most recently, 802.11be.  The
last four of these are now referenced as "WiFi 4" thru "WiFi 7".
E.g., the APs in my house are compatible with all *to* "WiFi 6".

The level/revision of WiFi implemented by phones vary -- with
their date of manufacture, along with the goals of their
designers.  E.g., the examplars that I presented (elsewhere)
show iPhones supporting (802.11)ac while other manufacturers
were still supporting n.

[Note that n is a ~2008 era technology while ac is ~2015
and ax is ~2020.  Does this suggest that any phone made
"within the last 5 years" -- an interval Martin suggests
should cover "most" phones now in use -- should be "ax"?]