802.11a versus 802.11g?
802.11, 802.11 networking equipment, 802.11g, Wireless in 2010, Wireless PC cards, Wireless standards
I have heard that 802.11a and 802.11g have the same capacity – so can I buy cheap older cards and still obtain the same speeds? Is there a downside to using 802.11a?
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ASKED:
August 12, 2010 7:54 PM
UPDATED:
August 24, 2010 2:33 PM
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Answer Wiki:
Not many people use it, and it isn't backwards compatible with N.
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802.11A operates on the 5GHz spectrum (54Mb/s max). 802.11B (11Mb/s) / 802.11G (54Mb/s) operate at 2.4GHz spectrum. 802.11A is NOT compatible with 802.11B/G. So, not all wi-fi protocols are backwards compatible.
802.11N operates in both the 5GHz and 2.4GHz spectrum but is only compatible with 802.11G.
For more information see the Wikipedia article on 802.11.