Networking + Wireless Networks

5 GHz

802.11a 802.11n 802.11ac 802.11ax

The range of each of the networks is as follows:

802.11a - 50 feet 802.11b - 150 feet 802.11g - 50 feet 802.11n - 175 feet 802.11ac - 230 feet 802.11ax - 11 feet[]

802.11ac

802.11ac, also known as WiFi 5, offers a speed of 1.33 Gigabits and a similar range to 802.11n (230 feet). IEEE 802.11ac is an amendment that improves upon the previous IEEE 802.11 standards. Characteristics of this standard include the introduction of wider channels (80 or 160 MHz compared to 40 MHz for 802.11n) in the 5 GHz band, more spatial streams (up to 8), and the addition of Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO). 802.11ac can transmit data at 1300 Mbps (megabits per second) or 162.5 MBps (megabytes per second).

2.4 GHz

802.11b 802.11g 802.11n 802.11ax

802.11ax

The 802.11ax standard, also known as WiFi 6, is an improvement of its predecessor, which was 802.11ac. The 802.11ax standard is named WiFi 6 and can operate in 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequency ranges. It can support up to eight MU-MIMO transmissions. It can provide four times the speed of 802.11ac.

802.11n

This is faster than 802.11g, also known as WiFi 4, and is supported by network devices. 802.11n has a network speed of 600 Mbps and a maximum range of 230 feet. This standard uses multiple input/multiple outputs (MIMO) and may cause interference with nearby 802.11b/g networks. 802.11n has a higher price point than 802.11g.

802.11b

This provides a range of 150 feet and is the oldest standard still in use and supported by wireless routers. Wireless devices widely support this. IEEE 802.11b provides data rates of up to 11 Mbps using the 2.4 GHz band. This standard provides lower maximum data rates but a greater range than the 802.11a standard since the 2.4 GHz frequencies used are not as readily absorbed by walls and obstacles as the 5 GHz frequencies used in 802.11a are.

802.11a

This runs at 54 Mbps and is not compatible with 802.11b as it operates at the 5 GHz band. This standard was the first amendment of the original legacy IEEE 802.11 standard (1997), improving data rates from up to 2 Mbps of the original standard. It can cover an indoor area ranging from 35m to 125m.

802.11g

Today, this is supported by wireless devices and network equipment and is an economical option for buying a wireless access point. 802.11g is the same speed as 802.11a. However, it has a longer range of 170 feet and supports the 2.4 GHz, frequency band. IEEE 802.11g provides data rates of up to 54 Mbps. This functions in the 2.4 GHz band (like 802.11b) but uses the same Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM)-based transmission scheme as 802.11a. A wireless keyboard also operates at the 2.4 GHz band, hence can likely cause interference with the 802.11g network.