Playing on a Cordless Network

It's been a few years now since the major players in the computer world started developing technologies for creating cordless networks. If, originally, each of them offered a proprietary solution that was incompatible with the rest, today WiFi seems to have become the prevailing standard. But even the WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) norm contains several variations. The basic standard remains the 802.11b with links in the 2.4 GHz band and a maximum theoretical datastream of 11 Mbits per second. There is also another standard, the 802.11a, but it is only available in the United States. In fact, since communications are located in the frequency range that is close to 5 GHz, it is banned in France and elsewhere in Europe. The bandwidth is higher, with a maximum of 54 Mbits/s, but the range is much smaller. To improve the performance of the 802.11b, some manufacturers have introduced a "boosted" version, which can achieve a datastream of 22 Mbits/s. It is called the 802.11b+.

A new norm that has not yet been standardized is 802.11g. It still uses the 2.4 GHz band, but is totally compatible with the 802.11b, which means it has a more promising future. Dataflow is 54 Mbits/s maximum, and the range is slightly reduced.

Range, Datastream And Hardware

As a cordless communications protocol, WiFi is limited in terms of space. All the manufacturers indicate a maximum theoretical range of around 500 feet (150 meters). But this is only possible when there are no obstacles in the way. Furthermore, at the maximum distance, communications performance is not at its best, and the datastream can be reduced to as little as 1 Mbits/s. In fact, to achieve distances such as these while avoiding any deterioration in communication, WiFi is able to automatically adjust the transfer rate, which can have four different speeds depending on the conditions of use.