The Wi-Fi Alliance has approved a new type of low-power, long-range wireless standard, WiFi Halow, for smart home devices. Most wireless standards operates on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency band whereas Wi-Fi HaLow dips into the 900MHz band.
Smart home devices (Internet of Things) prefer to avoid WiFI to connect to the Internet because the reach is limited and energy consumption is rather high. WiFi-HaLow has the ability to operate using very low power, penetrate through walls, and operate at significantly longer ranges than Wi-Fi today. The first certified products will arrive in 2018.