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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