802.11G Far From Flawless

If you follow the WiFi world at all, you probably know all this, but that doesn't mean the makers of WiFi equipment are making it easy for consumers to find out that it's probably not reasonable to buy any 802.11g equipment right now. The most important point is that the supposed "boost" in speed is useless for almost everyone. I've had this discussion with people who said they were waiting to buy a WiFi setup until "g" was out, because of the speed. Of course, these people had cable modems set up with a cap well below the speed that the "slower" 802.11b would let them use. Going to 802.11g does no good whatsoever - except when you're transferring insanely large files between computers on your own network. Also worth noting, is that the 802.11g standard hasn't been officially set yet. So, if things change, those who buy equipment now may find themselves out of luck, when trying to connect to official 802.11g equipment. Of course, that won't stop companies like Linksys from promoting their "g" solutions as much as they can right now.

Filed Under: wifi, wi-fi