[Ham-Computers] Wirelss adapters

[Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)]

Forgot to mention Wireless Adapters in the last message...

There are currently three (3) "official" wireless protocols: 802.11a,
802.11b, and 802.11g.  A fourth, 802.11n, is out there, but it hasn't
been officially recognized as an IEEE standard - maybe later this year.

802.11b was the most common.  It has a signaling rate of 11Mbps and
throughput of about 4Mbps.  It operates on the 2.4GHz ISM band.

802.11g is the direct succssor to 802.11b.  It operates on the same
2.4GHz ISM band as "b", but uses a signaling rate of 54Mbps (throughput
of 14 to 30Mbps, depending on conditions).

802.11a is similar to 802.11g, but operates on a 5GHz ISM band.  Range
is much shorter than b/g, but it's "in the clear" in comparison.  Not
very common, but useful to avoid the common masses (b/g).

802.11n will be the successor of b/g - operates in the same 2.4GHZ band,
but has throughput better than 100Mbps under optimal conditions.
However, they can also cause massive interference to older b/g products
as they use multiple carriers to achieve the higher bandwidth.  Also, if
other b/g products are nearby, you won't get the full speed benefits of
"n" due to interference.  IMHO, the main benefit of "n" will be the
longer range rather than the speed.

You'll also see references to "SuperG", "TurboG", "MIMO", "108", "125",
and others - these are not IEEE standard, but vendor standards.  Most of
these products are backwards compatible with a/b/g, but you're wasting
your money if all you'll be doing is accessing hotspots - the extra
speeds these vendor specific optimizations offer require you to use
vendor matched products - for example, "TurboG" adapter to "TurboG" AP
to get the full "108" speed.

So, for basic hotspot surfing, buying a simple 802.11g adapter is your
best bet.  Look for one that carries the WiFi Alliance sticker/logo as
"WiFi compliant".  The WiFi Alliance tests to ensure that a "logo'd"
product will interoperate with any other "logo'd" product.  I'm
personally partial to Linksys products, but Netgear is a good
alternative.  Better yet, if you laptop has built-in wireless capability
(such as via an internal mini-PCI connector), then get an Intel 3915
Wireless card.

73,

  - Aaron Hsu, NN6O

p.s.  BTW, Intel's "Centrino" moniker is a marketing slogan.  Don't use
it to compare wireless devices - the WiFi logo is a better indicator.