802.11g has arrived

[zephyrprime]

Just saw that they have started to sell them at best buy. I didn't realize that they were coming out so soon. Anyone getting one?

 

[BHeemsoth]

we got the routers and access points last night at work...hopefully soon we will get the nics.

BTW I work at staples

 

[Fencer128]

Hi,

I think the official 802.11g spec isn't due for IEEE ratification until July. However, these products are manufacturers "best guess" at the final spec and so aren't guarenteed to work with furutre 802.11g equipment produced after the finalisation.

Andy

 

[mcveigh]

yes it's not a final standard yet so consider that before buying

 

[ktwebb]

It'll get voted on in May. Should pass, and if it does then it goes to a compatibility test consortium. That will probably go on throughout the summer. Look for a 54G Wi-Fi certification badge, a legitimate one, sometime next fall. 11g Products bought now will likely be able to get a firmware flash once the standard is set and test certified. The reason to wait on the .11g hardware right now is general bugginess, specifically if you have an 802.11b client infrastructure in place and plan on using both modulation types with your .11g AP. Not working too well right now. If your going straight Pre-draft 11.g with your WLAN then you should be ok.

 

[SuperWrat]

I need a wireless card for my thinkpad asap and just heard about wireless-g. I'm looking at this one:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10336401&loc=16749

Should I buy a wireless-g or just a 802.11b? I'm won't get a wireless-g accesspoint until later (because friend already has an 802.11b one) ... so I'll be stuck with 802.11b speeds for a while, but is it safe to get the g card now? Or will the cards have potential problems too?

 

[SuperWrat]

sorry forgot to link (for the lazy)

linksys wireless-g card

 

[phillyTIM]

It's best to get 802.11g now.

1. it costs quite comparitively to the slower 802.11b; so you might as well fork over a couple extra dollars for a lot of possible gain. At the very least, you get generally better than 802.11b speeds regardless.

2. it works GREAT, and very fast, if you're just starting out and are buying 802.11g access cards along with it.

3. Linksys, at least as far as companies, said they will provide an upgrade to the final spec for all its current 802.11g customers.

 

[JackMDS]

This page can provide a preliminary example of what can be expected from 802.11g

It compares Buffalo 801.11g, to SMC regular 802.11b, to D-Link 802.11g.

802.11a/b/g SOHO Routers: Performance.

The curve can provide important info.

Example: If your main concern is Internet and distance, you can compromise on ?Speed?.

At a 2Mb/sec. (which is adequate for Internet), the Buffalo and the SMC provide almost the same distance, while D-Link is significantly ahead of them.

And this page provides a Table with the features available in this Wireless Hardware:

802.11a/b/g SOHO Routers: Features.

Important to notice that while some of the manufactures states in PC Magazines 802.11g Five Time Faster then 802.11b. The real performance gain is only by a factor of X2.

 

[Intelman07]

I read somewhere that you should be able to upgrade to 802.11g with a simple firmware upgrade. It makes sense but do you believe manufactures will do that?

 

[SuperWrat]

Thanks for the links JackMDS, I think I will go ahead with the wireless-g card just in anticipation for the future, especially since prices are so close to 802.11b anyways. I would use it primarily for internet, so speed isn't a big factor, but the longer distance is really appealing!

I read that the Proximo Orinoco Gold card has spectacular distance and consistency for 802.11b... I wonder how it compares to the d-link in comparison... anyone know?

 

[CZroe]

Yeah, I should have heeded the warnings myself, but it was CHEAPER than the 802.11b AP I wanted.

Then something scarry happened.

It isn't even 802.11b WiFi compliant because it doesn't support Prism2-chipset cards (Belkin, SMC, D-Link, Netgear, US Robotics, etc) without a firmware flash! As far as I can tell, all 54g products use Broadcom chipsets, so they probably all have the same problem in their initial releases.

 

[JackMDS]

The two 802.11g that mentioned in my post above are not as buggy. But it is better to be careful.

I would not buy 802.11g, unless I can return it.

I forgot to mention. At the moment if an 801.11g is used at the same time with 802.11b client, and 802.11g client. The 802.11b pull the 802.11g to its level.

The manufactures claim that would be fixed thought firmware fix.

Have Fun.

 

[CZroe]

Then you should word that differently

If 802.11g WILL coexist at higher bandwidth with 802.11b products, then it is 54g that currently does not.

As far as I can tell, 802.11b cards do not slow down to 2 or 5.5mbps (Both older 802.11b speeds) when one other card goes out of range an is forced to. 802.11g should interoperate the same way.

The majority of 802.11g improvements are security-centric, and therefore likely to be firmware upgradable for 54g products.

 

[SuperWrat]

So the consensus is go for the 802.11g card since it's only slightly more expensive, but make sure it's returnable in case of bugs? And look for firmware upgrades? Again, I'm not able to use g technology yet (limited by 802.11b router) but I wanna "plan" for the future and not buy another card in 3 months.

CZroe, do you have experience with the linksys wireless-g card? How does it compare to the buffalo or the d-link one?

 

[CZroe]

Nope, but I do plan on trading my 802.11b cards + PCI adapters in for a 54g one now that I don't do AdHoc. I'd say your interpretation of the census is a little more accurate for access points than cards if planning for the future, but yeah, it probably will be a good idea if you can return it