HP to add 802.11g Wireless Standard to Laptops

Hewlett-Packard's new wireless notebooks, Compaq Presario 2500 and Compaq Presario 2100 series, are designed to work with the new 802.11g draft standard for wireless devices. The 802.11g and 802.11b standards operate in the 2.4GHz band, but 802.11g wireless devices offer significantly faster data transfer rates of 54M bits per second over the 802.11b rates of 11M bits per second. This is great news for consumers, but the new release of the 802.11g wireless standard may create a nightmare of compatibility issues for other wireless connections of HP's customers, such as wireless remote access places while traveling, in coffee shops, etc. The Wi-Fi Alliance plans to have its published IEEE standard released by June 2003 and begin the process of certifying devices by July. Before this standard is finalized, consumers are encouraged to check the "Capabilities" label as to compatibility for all wireless technology they purchase. This label will indicate the data transfer rate the device is certified to carry and transfer.

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