R E L A T E D C O N T E N T

WLANs go worldwide

Telecoms standards body the ITU is working toward global accords that would let wireless LANs flourish

Martin Courtney, IT Week 08 Jul 2003

A global allocation of the 5GHz radio waveband for use in wireless LANs (WLANs) was provisionally agreed at the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU's) World Radiocommunications Conference in Geneva last week.

If implemented, the agreement will pave the way for the standardisation of 802.11a-based public access WLAN hotspots across the world, making it easier for travelling staff to access office systems from many locations, potentially at faster speeds.

Current hotspots are built around 802.11b access points, which provide average maximum bandwidth of around 5.5Mbit/s and transmit data signals in the 2.4GHz waveband.

The 2.4GHz waveband is licence-free in some countries, but is used by a wide range of differing wireless equipment and can therefore suffer from signal congestion. Use of the 5GHz waveband, as proposed at last week's conference, would provide greater capacity for WLANs and the potential to support more concurrent users.

The faster 802.11a standard ups bandwidth to around 25Mbit/s and uses portions of the 5GHz waveband, which is less prone to congestion.

The ITU will approve the use of 19 non-overlapping signal channels in the 5.15GHz to 5.35GHz and 5.47GHz to 5.725GHz wavebands for use in outdoor WLANs.

Other portions of the 5GHz waveband will be reserved for indoor use, due to concerns in some European countries about interference with satellite, radar and aircraft navigation systems on the same frequencies.

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