Content provided in partnership with

Business Services Industry

g WHIZ!: swimming through the alphabet soup of today's wireless standards

Entrepreneur, June, 2003 by Daniel Tynan

Can't decide whether to upgrade to a super-fast 802.11a wireless network or stick with the slower but cheaper 802.11b hardware? Well, the choice just got tougher. Millions of adapters for a Third choice--802.11g--are already surging into the market. The "g" specification offers the same 54Mbps speed of the 802.11 a, but in the 2.4GHZ band used by the installed base of 802.nb networks, with more robust security The "g" spec's backward compatibility with "b" networks could preserve older Wi-Fi investments, but the degree of compatibility remains to be seen.

Most Popular Articles in Business: Research and Markets : Tesco Plc - SWOT Framework Analysis; Do Us a Flavor - Ben & Jerry's Issues a Call for Euphoric New Flavors; eBay made easy: ready to start an eBay business? These 5 simple steps will ...; Katrina's lawsuit surge: a legal battle to force insurers to pay for flood ...; Wal-Mart's newest distribution center opened last month near the southwest ...; More »

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers won't finalize the spec until this summer, enabling the Wi-Fi Alliance to begin testing and certifying the interoperability of different "g" devices. Some vendors have already shipped more than 2 million 802.11g adapters they claim have Wi-Fi certification. How? Such products are "certified" only for backward compatibility with 802.11b adapters--not with each other. Before year's end, you'll see products supporting combinations of these protocols and enhancements to current standards.

DANIEL TYNAN, a freelance writer in Wilmington, North Carolina, writes about technology for a variety of publications.

Business Services Industry

g WHIZ!: swimming through the alphabet soup of today's wireless standards

Entrepreneur, June, 2003 by Daniel Tynan

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: Technology

Most Popular Articles in Business

Most Popular Publications in Business