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One of the most confusing parts of wireless networking is the naming.
Many marketing departments and standards commitees have worked very hard
to mangle them. Here's a list to help you unmangle them again.
| Numbers And Names |
Description |
802.11b
WiFi |
The first official popular wireless protocol. Can you guess which
name comes from standards and which from marketing? This supports
11 megabits per second, and operates on the 2.4 gigahertz band.
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| 802.11a |
The second protocol. Second? Hey, it's an 'A'. Doesn't B come after
A? Well yes, but in the world of standards, this one got approval
first, and b shortly after. But 11b came out with products first!
Confusing??
Anyway, this one can do 54 megabits, and operates on the 5 gigahertz
band.
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802.11g
54g |
This is the most recent protocol, and is still "unofficial"
although you can by products right now, at prices as good as 11b!
It operates on the same 2.4 gigahertz band as 11b, but achieves
higher speed.
In theory, 11g and 11b cards should co-exist peacfully on the same
network, but until recently, 11b cards would drag the speed down.
Improvements are being made to remedy this though.
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| BlueTooth |
This isn't and 802 type thingie! But it's out there.
This is not meant to be a networking substitute, but a way to connect
things togther that are in close proximity, like keyboards and mice
to a computer, dvd to a stereo, PDA to a dock etc. |
Right now, just go for 11g products, best bang for the buck. Companies
will upgrade the protocol with firmware patches to make things even better.
There are some proprietary extensions to get even more speed, but I'm
not sure if it will settle on something compatible between vendors.
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