802.11b vs 802.11g

[Tony Wasson]

> > >Subject: 802.11b vs 802.11g
> > >Reply-To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > >
> > >Can anyone give me some good reasons why one would want
> > >to invest in 11g over 11b for a small office?
> > >
> > 802.11g probably won't be certified by the IEEE until 3rd quarter this
> > year. At best since there should be more channels wihtin the band
there
> > should be more throughput, at worst you will get the same throughput
as
> > 802.11b. I think that Apple is taking the lead in adopting 802.11g for
> > their new WAP's (Airport). If you are concerned about compliance then
> > you may want to stick with 802.11b but if you want to be cutting edge
> > then by all means grab a 802.11g.
> >

> I though the big difference between 802.11a and 802.11g was that 802.11g
> was 100% compatible with 802.llb and 802.11a wasn't. Thats what i heard
> at least. If it is i wouldn't see any reason not to go for 802.11g.

802.11g supports 802.11b and 802.11g at the same time. I consider a sort
of Auto Negotiation for wireless. 802.11g is prestandard, but several
vendors are pushing versions based on the draft, and should be fully
compliant with a firmware upgrade. Caveat Emptor.

Why would you buy 802.11g over 802.11b? Speed (and geek appeal). Since it
is prestandard, expect to do more tweaking and expect to pay more. I read
a review of Buffalo's 802.11g AP on Tom's Hardware and they saw realistic
throughput of +20Mbps to a client. If you are happy with sharing 11Mbps
between your wireless clients, there may be no reason to upgrade. If you
need a slight speed boost, you might consider running more than 1 access
point on different channels. The specs say you can run 3 APs in the same
area with no problems - on channels 1,6, and 11. I have heard of people
running 4 APs to get a speed edge (1,4,7,11).

Keep in mind that you should definitely check about Linux driver support
for any .11g cards, since they are so new.