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There is not just one standard WiFi technology on the market, but for the purpose of this website, I will only talk of the most popular wireless standards.
| Standard | Brief Description |
| IEEE 802.11b | It was the first successful standard produced in 1999. It uses a radio frequency of 2.4 GHz and can support data transfer rates of 11 Mbps. |
| IEEE 802.11a | The successive version also produced in 1999 which is more expensive than 802.11b. It supports data transfer rates of 54 Mbps and uses the radio frequency on the 5 GHz band. |
| IEEE 802.11g | This standard emerged in 2003 with the best of both 802.11b and 802.11a worlds. It uses the 2.4 GHz frequency band and yet can support up to 54 Mbps. Since this product has the cost advantage of 802.11b, this standard has become increasingly popular in homes and small businesses. |
Advantages:
One of the most prevalent advantages of WiFi wireless LAN technologies is that it is completely wire-free. Now, if you want to sit in one of your comfort zones in you house, such as a couch or in your yard, you can carry your laptop with you and still be able to access the internet. These days, if you buy a new laptop, a built-in WiFi card will allow you automatic allowance of use. (Brain) A second advantage is becoming increasingly popular: hotspots. Instead of having to be constricted to your home wired/wireless Local Area Network (LAN), you can now enjoy the advantages of the Internet in public places such as lobbies, cafes, universities, hotels, airports, and many other common areas. WiFi also supports roaming: you can walk around a building from one access point to another. A third advantage of WiFi is the ability for 802.11b and 802.11g to frequency hop. This process allows the 802.11b and 802.11g cards to transmit themselves on any of three bands, or splitting the radio bandwidth into channels and 'hop' between them. (Brain) This enables the WiFi cards to talk at the same time without interference. The fourth advantage I know of is the development of the Wi-Fi Alliance (formerly WECA). This association is formed with more than 200 member companies whose business it is to test and certify the interoperability of WLAN products, making sure they are based solely on the IEEE 802.11 specifications. (Wi-Fi Alliance, What) You also must remember that WiFi products are widely distributed, and an easy technology to use.
Disadvantages:
Even though WiFi products are useful, there are still some downfalls that must be stated in order to get a firm grasp on exactly what WiFi wireless LAN technologies are composed of. As Morely points out, "Wi-Fi is designed for medium-range data transfers, and most versions of 802.11 work up to about 250-300 feet away from the access point indoors, and about 1,000 feet away outdoors."(341) Yes, and with more distance between your computer/laptop and the access point, the speed and the quality falters tremendously. It also doesn't help when there is interference from microwaves or cordless phones which use the same frequency that 802.11g and 802.11b use: 2.4 GHz. Another disadvantage for WiFi products is their security system. The Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is the common wireless encryption standard which is easily broken even when configured accurately. (Wikipedia, WiFi) To counteract this problem, however, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) has been established.