Wi-Fi Is Too Forgiving: Change My Mind | PRG 26

Wi-Fi is one of the most forgiving networking technologies ever created. It works across multiple generations of devices, adapts to changing RF conditions, and often continues functioning despite poor design choices, overlapping channels, low data rates, legacy clients, and misconfigured networks.

But that flexibility comes at a cost. This session explores the protocol features and decades of engineering decisions that make Wi-Fi so resilient—and how those same mechanisms consume airtime, reduce efficiency, and can limit the performance of modern networks.