Wireless Standards - A Comparison

Wireless LAN Standards: Comparing 802.11 and Bluetooth View Page Standards 802.11 is divided primarily into three sub-standards, viz. 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g among others. The following table distinguishes the differences and similarities between these standards and Bluetooth. Bluetooth is an alternative wireless network technology that followed a different development path than the 802.11 family of standards.

802.11 Wireless LAN Standards Comparison Properties

802.11a

802.11b

802.11g

Bluetooth

Data Rate(Mbps)

54

11

54

721Kbps 56Kbps

Operating Frequency(GHz)

5

2.4

2.4

2.4

Typical power output (mw)

40-800

100

100

100

Compatibility

Not compatible with 802.11b or 802.11g

Not compatible with 802.11a or 802.11g

Compatible with 802.11b

Not compatible with 802.11a/b.

Range

150feet

150feet

150feet

30feet

Interference risk

Low

High

High

High

Price

Expensive

Cheap

Moderate

Moderate

Hot-spot access

Poor

Good

Good

Poor

Though 802.11a and 802.11b standards have been developed around the same time, 802.11b has become very popular due affordability of the hardware for small business and home networking. However, considering any future expansion, it is desirable to buy equipment that is capable of operating in duel modes (802.11 a/b).

Bluetooth supports a very short range (approximately 10 meters) and relatively low bandwidth (1 Mbps). In practice, Bluetooth networks PDAs or cell phones with PCs but not used widely for general-purpose Wireless LAN networking. The very low manufacturing cost of Bluetooth makes it a viable solution for wireless devices like PDAs and Cell phones. Note that the 801.11 and Bluetooth standards are incompatible with each other.

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