Early 802.11 products suffered from interoperability problems because the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) had no provision for testing equipment for compliance with its standards.

In 1999, pioneers of a new, higher-speed variant endorsed the IEEE 802.11b specification to form the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) and branded the new technology Wi-Fi.

[4] The alliance lists Apple, Comcast, Samsung, Sony, LG, Intel, Dell, Broadcom, Cisco, Qualcomm, Motorola, Microsoft, Texas Instruments, and T-Mobile as key sponsors.

The charter for this independent organization was to perform testing, certify interoperability of products, and to promote the technology.

Certification employs 3 principles: The Wi-Fi Alliance definition of interoperability demands that products have to show satisfactory performance levels in typical network configurations and have to support both established and emerging applications.

The Wi-Fi Alliance certification process includes three types of tests to ensure interoperability.

[33] IBSS with Wi-Fi Protected Setup would enable the creation of ad hoc network between devices directly without central access point.

Miracast, introduced in 2012, is a standard for wireless display connections from devices such as laptops, tablets, or smartphones.

[38][39] Later versions of this standard included new features such as the capability to establish a peer-to-peer data connection for file transfer.

It is intended to address the problem of Wi-Fi systems that need to cover large areas where several routers serve as multiple access points, working together to form a larger/extended and unified network.

[48] It includes a number of certification, such as Wi-Fi certified ac (as in 802.11ac), Passpoint, Agile Multiband, and Optimized Connectivity.