Eight-Oh-Two Dot Eleven…What????

Ever go out to purchase a new wireless router so that you can finally get away from having to be physically plugged-in in order to get to the internet.  A wireless network gives you the freedom to use the web from anywhere in your house.  But, if you have never dealt with a router before, purchasing one can be a real puzzling thing to do.  Well, I am going to explain what all that jargon on the router box is all about.  First off, lets address some of the terminology that is used in router specifications.  The first is Frequency, which is measured in hertz (hz), kilohertz (khz),megahertz (mhz) or, in the case of routers, gigahertz (ghz).  All routers work at either 2.4 ghz  or 5 ghz. I’ll explain the differences later.  The second terminology that you are going to deal with is Bandwidth.  In router terminology, bandwidth deals with speed and is measured in bits per second (bps) or mega-bits per second (mbps).  The higher the bandwidth speed, the faster your network will be.

The next term that you may see is IEEE which stands for the Intstitute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers.  They oversee and create the standards in which a local area network (LAN) is broadcasted.  Now there are many different standards but I am only going to explain the ones that directly relate to routers and LAN’s.

Legacy 802.11 – The original standard was known only as 802.11 and was first adopted in 1997.  It sustained a maximum bandwidth of only 2 mbps, which is much too slow for any kind of networking and worked on the 2.4 ghz spectrum.  The original or Legacy 802.11 standard was quickly updated to the next iterations…..802.11a & b.

802.11a – Introduced in October, 1999, this standard worked on the faster 5 ghz spectrum and had a maximum speed of 54 mbps.  The problem with the 5 ghz spectrum is that it had a serious problem penetrating solid objects, such as a wall.  What this equated to is that all of the connected objects in a house would have to have a direct line of site with the router, which is unreasonable in most situations.  Because of this, the standard know as 802.11b was introduced at the same time, October 1999.

802.11b – As stated above, was introduced almost simultaneously with the 802.11a standard.  802.11b worked in the 2.4 ghz range which made it’s speeds a lot slower (only 11 mbps) than the 802.11a version. However, this version was usable as it was not hampered by solid objects like a wall, that plagued the 802.11a standard. 802.11b also had a transmission range that was 3 times that of 802.11a (up to 150 ft.).  The problem with 802.11b is that it works in the 2.4 ghz range which is the same spectrum as household appliances such as microwaves, baby monitors, and cordless telephones.  The interference caused by these appliances could disrupt the signal from the router and cut your connection to the internet.  This led to the next version which was 802.11g.

802.11g  – This version worked on the same 2.4 ghz frequency as 802.11b, however it used the the transmission scheme that was utilized in 802.11a, making it much faster.  Compared to the 11 mbps of the previous version, the maximum speed of 54 mbps was very appealing to most people with a LAN.  Although, the average speed was only around 22 mbps, it was still twice as fast, on average.  Because of this, the 802.11g was widely used by January of 2003, almost 6 months before it was ratified by the IEEE in June of that same year.  802.11g, was also backwards compatible with both 802.11 a and b.  For this reason, many of the routers were listed as IEEE 802.11a/b/g.

802.11n – Although just recently ratified on September 11, 2009, this itertion has been in use for the past 6 months or more.  802.11n transmits by either the 2.4 ghz or the 5 ghz frequency, which allows it to transmit without a direct line of sight, and will also get minimal interference from household appliances like the aforementioned microwave ovens, baby monitors, and cordless phones.  802.11n also has the fastest transmit rates of any of the previous versions, maximum of 600 mbps.  The reason for this is the new MIMO technology, which stands for “Multiple Input/Multiple Output”.  In past versions the antennas on the router could only be transmitting or receiving, but could not do both at the same time.  The new MIMO technology allows, one antenna on the router to be transmitting, while the second antenna is receiving. Essentially, the router is using multiple connections at the same time. As a result, this increases the transmit rates substantially. The problems with 802.11n is that it is more expensive than 802.11g technology, and as a result, “n Type” routers are normally $30 to $40 more than a “g Type” router.  The second downside is that since 802.11n transmits on multiple signals, it could greatly interfere with existing “g & b Type” networks that are nearby.

I hope that this may clarify some of the confusion related to router terminology so that the next time you need to get a router or a wireless network adapter, it will not make your head spin.

Does this help? Let me know by leaving a comment……