Which Wireless Standard is best for you?

1
Which Wireless Standard is best for you?

• 802.11a
• 802.11b
• 802.11g

Presented by David F. Soll Vice
President Advanced Technology dsoll_at_omicron.com
2
Agenda

• IEEE 802.11
• Wi-Fi Alliance
• Practical Considerations
• Adapter Types
• Intel Centrino
• Wi-Fi Zones
• Conclusions
• Questions

3
IEEE 802.11

• Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
  (IEEE)
• LAN/MAN Standards Committee (802)
• LAN Local Area Network
• MAN Metropolitan Area Networks
• 802 is sub-divided into working groups
• Use a decimal point to designate working group

4
IEEE 802.11

• Active (Still in development) 802 Working Groups
• 802.1 High Level Interface (HILI) Working Group
• 802.3 CSMA/CD Working Group
• 802.11 Wireless LAN (WLAN) Working Group
• 802.15 Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN)
  Working Group
• 802.16 Broadband Wireless Access (BBWA) Working
  Group
• 802.17 Resilient Packet Ring (RPR)
• 802.18 Radio Regulatory Technical Advisory Group
• 802.19 Coexistence Technical Advisory Group
• 802.20 Mobile Wireless Access Working Group

5
IEEE 802.11

• 802.11a
• Approved as a standard September 1999
• 54 MB
• 5 GHz band

6
IEEE 802.11

• 802.11b
• Approved as a standard September 1999
• Updates to standard approved in October 2001
• 11 MB
• 2.4 GHz band

7
IEEE 802.11

• 802.11d
• Approved as a standard June 2001
• Provide options for wireless access where 802.11a
  or 802.11b were not legal
• Some countries do not allow consumer
  transmissions on the bands allocated for 802.11

8
IEEE 802.11

• 802.11e
• Not yet an approved standard
• Quality of Service (QOS) protocols for 802.11
• Designed to provide QOS required for
• Voice
• Video
• Media Stream Distribution

9
IEEE 802.11

• 802.11F
• Not yet an approved standard
• Trial-Use Recommended Practice for Multi-Vendor
  Access Point Interoperability

10
IEEE 802.11

• 802.11g
• Not yet an approved standard
• Final acceptance is expected in June 2003
• Develop higher speeds for 802.11b
• 54 MB
• 2.4 GHz band

11
IEEE 802.11

• 802.11h
• Amendment to 802.11a
• To add indoor and outdoor channel selection for
  5GHz license exempt bands in Europe
• To enhance channel energy measurement and
  reporting mechanisms to improve spectrum and
  transmit power management
• Enables regulatory acceptance in some countries

12
IEEE 802.11

• 802.11i
• Not yet an approved standard
• Enhance Security for 802.11 communications
• This is not WEP, but is more complex and more
  secure

13
IEEE 802.11

• 802.11j
• Obtain Japanese regulatory approval
• Additionally operate in newly available Japanese
  4.9 GHz and 5 GHz bands.

14
IEEE 802.11

• 802.11k
• Radio Resource Measurement of Wireless LANs
• Provide measurements and other information in
  order to manage 802.11 services from an external
  source

15
IEEE 802.11

• The Bottom Line
• 802.11a
• 54 MB theoretical transfer rate
• 5 GHz Band
• 802.11b
• 11 MB theoretical transfer rate
• 2.4 GHz Band
• 802.11g
• 54 MB theoretical transfer rate
• 2.4 GHz Band

16
Wi-Fi Alliance

• Nonprofit International Association
• Formed in 1999
• Certifies interoperability of wireless Local Area
  Network products based on IEEE 802.11
• 176 member companies
• 611 products have received Wi-Fi certification
• Began certification March 2000

17
Wi-Fi Alliance

• Will not certify un-approved standards
• ie 802.11g
• Announced that testing of 802.11g is expected to
  start in July
• Web site of all certified equipment
• http//www.weca.net

18
Practical Considerations

• Popularity
• 802.11b is the most popular by far
• It was the first out of the gate
• 802.11a does not show signs of catching up with
  802.11b
• Tends to be a little more expensive than 802.11b
• 802.11g may replace 802.11b as the most popular
  someday, but not yet
• Costs should be comparable to 802.11b

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Practical Considerations

• Speed
• 802.11a is a clear winner in the speed category
• Even though 802.11a and 802.11g are both rated at
  54 MB theoretical, 802.11a out performs 802.11g
  consistently in actual tests

20
Practical Considerations

• Distance
• The higher the frequency, the more difficult it
  is to penetrate objects (ie walls)
• 2.4 GHz is likely to travel further through walls
  than 5 GHz
• 802.11b and 802.11g use 2.4 GHz
• 802.11a uses 5 GHz
• 802.11a uses speed throttling to improve distance
• The further away (the weaker the signal), the
  slower the data throughput

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Practical Considerations

• Interference
• 802.11b and 802.11g use the same 2.4 GHz band as
• Cordless telephones
• Bluetooth
• 802.11a uses 5 GHz
• Some new cordless phones now use 5 GHz

22
Practical Considerations

• Interference (contd.)
• 802.11a has 19 channels
• All channels are non-overlapping
• 802.11b has 11 channels but
• Only 3 non-overlapped channels

23
Practical Considerations

• Product Availability and Price
• 802.11b is both cheapest and most available
• Some products (such as a wireless bridge) are
  only available in 802.11b

24
Adapter Types

• Cardbus
• Intended for Notebook computers
• PCI
• Intended for Desktop computers
• Early PCI adapters were simply PCI to Cardbus
  converters and required a Cardbus adapter
• Most of the newer adapters for PCI are now native
  PCI adapters
• USB
• Work fine for either Notebook or Desktop

25
Adapter Types

• 802.11b only
• Single Band (2.4 GHz)
• 802.11a only
• Single Band (5 GHz)
• 802.11 a and b
• Dual band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz)
• Connect to either 802.11a or 802.11b
• 802.11g
• Single Band (2.4 GHz)
• Typically supports 802.11b also

26
Intel Centrino

• Intels new brand name of a combination of chips
  including CPU and wireless communications
• New CPU Pentium-M
• Not to be confused with Pentium 4-M
• Complete New Design
• Lower Power
• Higher Speed
• ie Pentium-M 1.4 GHz outperformed a P4-M 2.4 GHz
  in one set of tests by 38

27
Intel Centrino

• Wireless Capabilities only include 802.11b
• Intel claims
• 802.11a support is months away
• 802.11g will be available by the end of the year

28
Wi-Fi Zones

• Areas where Wi-Fi Access is provided
• Often called Wi-Fi hot-spots
• The Wi-Fi Alliance provides free Wi-Fi Zone
  registration for providers
• http//www.wi-fizone.org/

29
Wi-Fi Zones

• Zones in Philadelphia
• Loews Philadelphia Hotel
• Four Seasons Hotel
• Wyndham Philadelphia
• Embassy Suites Hotel
• Radisson Plaza Warwick Hotel
• Embassy Suites (Philadelphia Airport)

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Wi-Fi Zones

• Zones in New Jersey
• Residence Inn Saddle River
• Embassy Suites Hotel - Piscataway - Somerset
• Embassy Suites Hotel - Secaucus - Meadowlands
• HI-Totowa
• Hilton Newark Gateway
• Parsippany Hilton
• Radisson Inn Englewood
• Summerfield Suites Parsippany Whippany
• Summerfield Suites Mount Laurel
• Summerfield Suites Princeton

• Summerfield Suites Somerset
• Inn at Somerset Hills
• Sunrise Suites Hotel
• Summerfield Suites Bridgewater
• Sierra Suites Piscataway
• Somerset Marriott Hotel
• Westin Morristown
• Courtyard by Marriott
• Wyndham Newark Airport
• Rivendell - Edison
• Square One
• Morristown Deli
• Newark Airport

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Conclusions

• 802.11a is the speed king
• Higher cost
• Dual-band cards provide 802.11b compatibility
• Good if you have a local server, but the extra
  speed wont help if your connection to the
  internet is under 2 MB (ie cable and DSL)

32
Conclusions

• 802.11b is the current leader
• Cheapest
• Most Popular
• Most Compatible
• Most Available
• More Products Available
• More hot-spots available

33
Conclusions

• 802.11g is a good option (after July)
• Most will be backward compatible with 802.11b
• Should see prices comparable to 802.11b
• Higher speed than 802.11b

34
Questions
?
35
Which Wireless Standard is best for you?

• 802.11a
• 802.11b
• 802.11g

http//mywebpages.comcast.net/soll
Presented by David F. Soll Vice
President Advanced Technology dsoll_at_omicron.com