The 802.11 standards employs a series of over-the-air modulation techniques using the same basic protocol. The most common standards are referred to as 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n and the newest, 802.11ac. The spectrum available for 802.11 networking varies by country and there are additional restrictions on power output for various configurations.

802.11a

The 802.11a standard operates on 5 GHz and supports a maximum data rate of 54 Mbits/s with a real throughput of around 25 Mbits/s. There is a variation of 802.11a called “turbo mode” which is capable of 108 Mbits/s maximum data rate using 40 MHz channels instead of the standard 20 MHz channels. The 802.11a standard uses a modulation technique referred to as OFDM – Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing.

802.11b

The oldest standard is 802.11b which operates on 2.4 GHz, has a maximum data rate of 11 Mbits/s and a real throughput of about 5 Mbits/s. 802.11b suffers from considerable interference problems due to channel crowding and overlap. The 802.11b standard uses a modulation technique referred to as DSSS – Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum.

802.11g

IEEE 802.11g extends the operation of 802.11b which also operates on 2.4 GHz by increasing the maximum data rate to 54 Mbits/s and typically achieves throughput of about 25 Mbits/s. However, 802.11g also suffers from interference. Similar to 802.11a, 802.11g uses a modulation technique referred to as OFDM – Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing.

802.11n

IEEE 802.11n further extends …. Read more about what Wireless 802.11 means when choosing Wireless Routers