Wireless networks standards

Wireless is more and more an option for businesses or even home users of computer networks. We would all like to get rid of those ugly cables and wires on the carpets or under them, on the walls or on the ceilings. Unfortunately, wireless networks are perceived as slower and not so secure as LAN networks. Over time, a series of wireless networks standards were developed, in the search for increasing security, speed and stability.

IEEE 802.11

This was the first wireless standard developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) which uses Ethernet protocol for defining WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) standards. Transfer speeds: 6, 12 and 24 Mbits/second.

IEEE 802.11a

The improvement brought by this new standard was the transfer rate of up to 54 Mbits/second.

IEEE 802.11b

This is a simplified revision of 802.11a standard and it is the most used one, due to its low fabrication costs. The theoretical transfer rate is 11Mbits/second. It is slower than 802.11a, because it operates within the radio spectrum of 2.4 GHz, while 802.11a operates within 5GHz.

IEEE 802.11e

The improvements brought by this standard were the QoS and the multimedia support.

IEEE 802.11g

This was the answer to the challenge of combining the speed of 11a and the low costs of 11b standards. It operates on 2.4 GHz, thus fabrication costs being low as in 11a, but it offers speeds of up to 54Mbits/second, as in 11b.

IEEE 802.11n

This standard will be a big step ahead 11g standard. It will offer a speed of couple of hundreds Mbits/second, but the equipment will be more expensive. Although it hasn’t been certified, about 30,000 IT&C products complying with 802.11n have been already launched, most of them belonging to companies such as Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, Buffalo or Belkin.

Bluetooth
Bluetooth can be described as a wireless version for USB devices. It is not intended to provide high quality networking and it only works over short distances. Common uses for bluetooth include cellphone-computer communication, printing to a local printer, or PDA synchronizing.
Unfortunately bluetooth also operates on the 2.4GHz frequency potentially causing interference with your 802.11b/g network. Not to mention that using 2.4 GHz cordless phones can cause all sort of problems on 2.4 GHz networks.
Many controverses were born around the subject of wireless networks security. There are some simple steps to be followed for best WiFi security.
Also, connectivity problems were raised, due to interferences or signal interruptions. Microsoft shares with us 10 tips for improving wireless networks. Their recommendations seem to be useful for those who want to get rid of wires in their life.