Generally, the speed of your wireless network depends on many factors, such as the technology standard your equipment supports, the number of users at a given time, distance from the access point, electronic devices in your home/neighbour and the layout of your house or office.
802.11a:
Wireless networks that use the 802.11a standard use the 5 GHz radio frequency band. This standard offers theoretical (potential) speed of 54 Mbps. The 802.11a standard offers the user a possible range of up to 78 meters but limited to 7.5 to 23 meters in an office or home environment. This standard is one of the fastest wireless network standards available but highly disappoints in terms of coverage. In practice, 802.11a networks offer just about 20 Mbps of its theoretical speed of 54 Mbps. This is mainly due signal interference, protocol overheads and weakening signal with distance.
802.11b:
The 802.11b is the most popular wireless network standard in terms of number of users and installed networks. It uses the 2.4 GHz radio band. This standard has a theoretical speed of 11 Mbps but in practice offers only 5.5 Mbps. The reasons for this are the same as the one mentioned above. Others include; interference from household gadgets such as microwave, handheld phones, Bluetooth devices using the same frequency and even thick walls. In theory, this standard offers a greater coverage of up to 90 meters but delivers only up to 30 to 45 meters indoors.
802.11g:
The 802.11g operates at the same frequency as the 802.11b standard. It has a potential speed of 54 Mbps but just like its predecessors delivers only up to 20 Mbps in reality. The reasons for that are pretty much the same as 802.11b. The best part of this standard is its backward compatibility with the 802.11b networks. This is because they both operate on the same frequency of 2.4 GHz. Therefore any equipment that supports 802.11g also supports 802.11b. Even though the 802.11g is faster, it covers the same range as the 802.11b standard. In addition, 802.11g devices (say router) have excellent connection speeds and can support multiple computers without noticeable performance issues.
802.11n:
The last of the standards is 802.11n but am not going to talk much about it because it’s only a draft (not operational) at the moment. But the draft supports, a massive speed of up to 600Mbps on a 5 GHz frequency band with an improved network throughput. It also promises greater range and backward compatibility with all its predecessors. It is believed that the 802.11n standard will be finalised by November this year (2009). This is going to be the next big thing in the wireless world, so be on the lookout for it. It will be fantastic!
Conclusion
If you remain within the range of an access point using any of the above technologies, your chances of getting a good connection at a high speed are higher. Always remember to buy computers or devices that support all three standards. I bet most of you know the a/b/g network card. Most computers on the market these days are compatible with all three technologies. Make sure you have it or you might not be able to surf the net in some public places. Finally, thanks for reading and don’t forget to leave your comments. Feel free to save to delicious; Digg it, Stumble It, Mixx or even share on facebook. Your emails are always welcome. Thank you.
802.11a:
Wireless networks that use the 802.11a standard use the 5 GHz radio frequency band. This standard offers theoretical (potential) speed of 54 Mbps. The 802.11a standard offers the user a possible range of up to 78 meters but limited to 7.5 to 23 meters in an office or home environment. This standard is one of the fastest wireless network standards available but highly disappoints in terms of coverage. In practice, 802.11a networks offer just about 20 Mbps of its theoretical speed of 54 Mbps. This is mainly due signal interference, protocol overheads and weakening signal with distance.
802.11b:
The 802.11b is the most popular wireless network standard in terms of number of users and installed networks. It uses the 2.4 GHz radio band. This standard has a theoretical speed of 11 Mbps but in practice offers only 5.5 Mbps. The reasons for this are the same as the one mentioned above. Others include; interference from household gadgets such as microwave, handheld phones, Bluetooth devices using the same frequency and even thick walls. In theory, this standard offers a greater coverage of up to 90 meters but delivers only up to 30 to 45 meters indoors.
802.11g:
The 802.11g operates at the same frequency as the 802.11b standard. It has a potential speed of 54 Mbps but just like its predecessors delivers only up to 20 Mbps in reality. The reasons for that are pretty much the same as 802.11b. The best part of this standard is its backward compatibility with the 802.11b networks. This is because they both operate on the same frequency of 2.4 GHz. Therefore any equipment that supports 802.11g also supports 802.11b. Even though the 802.11g is faster, it covers the same range as the 802.11b standard. In addition, 802.11g devices (say router) have excellent connection speeds and can support multiple computers without noticeable performance issues.
802.11n:
The last of the standards is 802.11n but am not going to talk much about it because it’s only a draft (not operational) at the moment. But the draft supports, a massive speed of up to 600Mbps on a 5 GHz frequency band with an improved network throughput. It also promises greater range and backward compatibility with all its predecessors. It is believed that the 802.11n standard will be finalised by November this year (2009). This is going to be the next big thing in the wireless world, so be on the lookout for it. It will be fantastic!
Conclusion
If you remain within the range of an access point using any of the above technologies, your chances of getting a good connection at a high speed are higher. Always remember to buy computers or devices that support all three standards. I bet most of you know the a/b/g network card. Most computers on the market these days are compatible with all three technologies. Make sure you have it or you might not be able to surf the net in some public places. Finally, thanks for reading and don’t forget to leave your comments. Feel free to save to delicious; Digg it, Stumble It, Mixx or even share on facebook. Your emails are always welcome. Thank you.
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