2003: The very first Wi-Fi certified cellphone

Today we can’t imagine having a cellphone without Wi-Fi. It was 2003 when the very first cellphone was able to pass all of the required tests for full Wi-Fi certification — the HP iPAQ, offered by TMobile. At the time, even an advanced phone supporting 3G cellular data service could only achieve data rates of less than 1 megabit per second — so by incorporating 11 megabit Wi-Fi into the iPAQ, TMobile’s customers could experience a ten-fold boost in their internet speed.

Over the subsequent twenty years, new Wi-Fi generations continued to offer higher and higher speeds, with today’s Wi-Fi 6 supporting data rates over a gigabit per second. It’s still the case that Wi-Fi is the connection mode of choice for mobile phone users, especially when the fastest internet access is desired.

Wi-Fi has been a must-have feature in virtually every mobile phone manufactured since 2003 — in fact, today there are over 20,000 different phone models from over a hundred manufacturers that have achieved Wi-Fi certification.

Read more about the history of Wi-Fi in Beyond Everywhere.