network

Wi-Fi standards: differences – these exist

06/02/2021

Nowadays, almost nothing works without the Internet. You can connect a device to the Internet via cable or wirelessly via Wi-Fi. But Wi-Fi is not equal to Wi-Fi, because since 1997 always new standards were published, by which the performance of the connection is influenced.

Differences of Wi-Fi standards

Since 1997 numerous standards for Wi-Fi were published, which improved the performance of a Wi-Fi connection. If you want to buy a new Wi-Fi-capable device, it is always important to find out beforehand which Wi-Fi standards are supported by it, since different transmission rates are possible depending on the standard.

  1. The first standard was “Wi-Fi 802.11“. With each further development, a new or additional letter was written to the label. With this basic value, you can transmit a maximum of 1 Mbit per second. The frequency range is thereby at 2.4 GHz.
  2. “802.11b” also works with 2.4 GHz. However, a transmission rate of 11 Mbit per second was possible here.
  3. Almost simultaneously also “802.11a” came out. With this further development, it was possible to transmit up to 54 Mbit per second in the frequency range of 5 GHz.
  4. “802.11g” also offers a rate of 54 Mbit at 2.4 GHz.
  5. “802.11n” on the other hand already allows a transmission of 600 Mbit per second. In addition, a frequency range of 2.4 and 5 GHz is possible.
  6. For several years, there is already the standard “802.11ac“, with which you can transmit up to 1,300 Mbit per second. However, this is used in only a few devices.
  7. In addition, there is “802.11ad“, which operates in the frequency range of 60 GHz. Theoretically, 7,000 Mbit per second are possible.

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