Wi-Fi equipment and wireless media access method

The invention discloses a Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) device and a wireless media access method. A Wi-Fi device (300) in a WLAN network includes a processor (325) and a transceiver (324) adapted to be coupled to an antenna (328), and a power saving media access algorithm (322a) in a crowded network environment, the algorithm being activated upon establishment of a Wi-Fi connection with its access point (AP). A traffic indication map (TIM) bitmap in a traffic indication map (TIM) information element received in a beacon frame from the AP is analyzed to determine, for a Wi-Fi device of the Wi-Fi devices, whether more than a predetermined number of bits (X) are set to indicate that the AP has a > = 1 buffer frame to infer whether the WLAN is in a crowded environment. When in a crowded environment, transmission in response to beacons is delayed by entering a sleep mode for a random time period (P). Upon expiration of the P, the sleep mode is exited and the polling frame is transmitted to the AP to attempt to obtain