Vendors approve 802.11g

The lack of a ratified 802.11g wireless LAN (WLAN) standard, and concerns that 802.11g might not yet be sufficiently backwards-compatible with legacy WLAN standards, have not deterred vendors and hotspot providers from adopting the spec.

US Robotics has said it will integrate support for the 54Mbit/s standard into all its WLAN products. A software update for existing equipment is available from the firm's Web site. And 802.11g kit is already available from vendors such as Netgear, even though a final 802.11g standard is not due to be ratified before the summer.

Meanwhile, WLAN hotspot provider Megabeam has teamed up with its network partner Interoute to deploy a public-access 802.11g hotspot in central London. Megabeam said the hotspot can wirelessly connect up to 100 roaming users to the Web or office intranets at any one time - far more than equivalent 802.11b-based hotspots.

The crucial advantage of 802.11g over 54Mbit/s 802.11a WLAN equipment is that 802.11g uses the same unlicensed 2.4GHz waveband as 802.11b, which means that in theory, 802.11g access points and PC Cards should be backwards-compatible.

Yet questions remain about whether this compatibility is full enough. Many experts say buyers should wait until a final standard is ratified that eliminates any doubt.

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Wireless LANs

Exploring wireless networking technology and its business applications  08 Aug 2003

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