CHAPTER 20. Faster Service: IEEE 802.11a

SOME OF THE MAIN TOPICS IN THIS CHAPTER ARE

Overview of the IEEE 802.11a Standard 302

Comparing 802.11a with 802.11b and 802.11g 306

IEEE 802.11a is a wireless networking specification that is designed to deal with the shortcomings of 802.11b networking. Although the rise of 802.11g networks clouded the prospects for 802.11a for awhile, many vendors have now recognized the benefits of using two separate wireless frequencies: 2.4GHz (802.11b/g) and 5GHz (802.11a).

IEEE 802.11b devices, which were the first to market (before the IEEE 802.11a standard was complete), were very popular for a short period, but they are limited for the most part to a maximum of 11Mbps bandwidth using radio frequencies in the ...

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