Wi-Fi technology has its origins in a 1985 ruling by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission that released the bands of the radio spectrum at 900 megahertz (MHz), 2.4 gigahertz (GHz), and 5.8 GHz for unlicensed use by anyone. Technology firms began building wireless networks and devices to take advantage of 192.168.1.1 IP address the newly available radio spectrum, but without a common wireless standard the movement remained fragmented, as devices from different manufacturers were rarely compatible. Eventually, a committee of industry leaders came up with a common standard, called 802.11, which was approved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 1997. Two years later a group of major companies formed the...