Whatever happened to HomeRF?

It was all the rage back in the late 90s. And then it got cancelled.

HomeRF — the RF stands for “Radio Frequency”, a common term used to denote "wireless” — was a seemingly unstoppable technology initiative aimed at establishing a multivendor wireless Local Area Network standard for home environments. The HomeRF consortium, founded in 1998, consisted of over eighty different leading tech firms including Intel, Compaq, HP, Proxim, IBM, Microsoft, and many others. These companies collaboratively developed a joint specification for the HomeRF technology, and by the year 2000 many companies were headed towards launching products into the market.

The problem? It was not compatible with the new IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless LANs. And a different group of companies were backing the IEEE technology, setting the stage for a fierce battle between competing approaches — a battle that was ultimately won by Wi-Fi, the name that was given to the standard based on the IEEE specification.

After HomeRF’s leading companies abandoned the organization and instead joined up with the Wi-Fi Alliance, HomeRF was forced to dissolve itself in January 2003. From that point on it was clear that Wi-Fi would be the universally adopted global standard for wireless local networks.

Read about the HomeRF/Wi-Fi battles and other turning points in the history of Wi-Fi in Beyond Everywhere.