Don’t be lost in the alphabet soup of the wireless world. From internet shops to school campuses to starbucks, wireless networks are fast becoming a norm. You now have the freedom to move freely, without worrying about cables. A quick look at four wireless standards someone who wants to setup a wireless network should know about.
4 Standards that Power the Wireless World
Did you know that there are more to just Wi-Fi? Hopefully the information below would reveal to you the things you need to know about the wireless standards that makes it possible for your PC to connect to the internet, share files and a lot more. Thinking about setting up a home wireless network? The wireless standards below is a good starting point. By getting familiar with the standards, you’ll less likely to run into compatibility problems.
Read them and decide for yourself what you would adapt for your wireless home network.
Note: Just like a dial-up setup where there are factors that affect your connection speed, the same goes with the wireless standards. Rarely will you be able to reach the theoretical speeds unless the condition is perfect. Getting close is good enough, don’t think about it too much. First up is…
802.11a
- A fast standard which, technically allows theoretical speeds of up to 54Mbps.
- Usually found in corporate networks.
- May require specialized equipment to setup.
- Uses the 5GHz band, which is less likely to run into devices that might cause interference.
802.11b
- The wireless standard most folks are familiar with. Most wireless networks I have dealt with uses this standard.
Usually found in internet cafes and also home networks. - Has transfer speeds of up to 11Mbps. Some say that devices that use this standard tend to maintain their speed over long distances better than 802.11a although I have yet to see it for myself.
- Devices are widely available and are priced reasonably.
- Uses the 2.4GHz band, which other radio frequency devices might also be operating in, which makes it susceptible to interference.
- You might also see devices marked 802.11b+. The plus sign means it is a slightly faster version of 802.11b. The wireless router (Belkin N1) you see on the right is an example of a device that uses 802.11b.
802.11g
- More recent wireless standard.
- Theoretical transfer speeds of 54Mbps.
- Operates using the same band as 802.11b, 2.4GHz.
When looking for devices using this wireless standard, you might come across some that are marked G+B. This means that it can “talk” to both g or b devices, adjusting itself to speeds accordingly. When a G+B device connects to a 802.11b device, the G+B device adjusts its speed to 11Mbps – the transfer speed of 802.11b. Devices marked as G+B is also known as “dual band” devices.
802.11n
802.11n DeviceA newer and faster standard in wireless networking, manufacturers of 802.11n devices advertise speeds of up to 600Mbps. This high data transfer speeds is because of the way this standard works, using multiple streams of information called “spatial streams”. The more spatial streams there are, the faster information goes from point A to point B – result? High transfer speeds.
The picture on the right is that of an ASUS 802.11n PCI wireless adapter.
There you have it, the four standards under 802.11. Now, when you decide on setting up your home wireless network, you will not run into incompatibilities anymore because you are already familiar with the standards. 😀 😀
