Quick question about 802.11g and Wi-Fi

[Ken90630]

Hey, All,

I'm helping a friend research laptops and I have a question. If a laptop has "802.11g" wireless capability built in, is that the same thing as being "Wi-Fi capable"?

My friend travels regularly, and he'd like to get a laptop he can use on the road, like in airports, cafes, hotels, etc. If he gets one with 802.11g, will that enable him to log on whenever he's in a place that has Wi-Fi?

Also, as I understand it, Intel Centrino technology includes Wi-Fi capability automatically. Is this true?

Ken

 

[NFS4]

WiFi = 802.11a/b/g etc.

 

[ai42]

WiFi is not a standard, it is a consortium of vendors which have built it into a marketing brand.

WiFi products form the various vendors will inter operate with each other. But that does not mean that they all carry the same feature sets.

Yes Centrino (which isn't really anything but a brand name for the Penitum M Intel 2100/2200BG/2915ABG MPCI wireless card, and Intel 855GM/PM/GME or Intel 915GM/GS/GMS/GML when bundled together) includes some variant of 802.11 flavor. Intel 2100 supports 802.11b, Intel 2200BG supports 802.11b/g, and Intel 2915 supports 802.11a/b/g.

 

[Ken90630]

Thanks, guys. So let's say my friend gets an AMD-based laptop with 802.11g capability. Will that enable him to connect to Wi-Fi networks in airports, cafes, hotels, etc.? What if the place uses 802.11b, for instance, for its Wi-Fi -- will an 802.11g machine work? Or will his laptop have to have the same specific variant of 802.11 (a, b or g) that the location's Wi-Fi network has in order to work? (Or does 802.11g encompass the other two variants as well?)

Lastly, does Centrino cover all 3 variants?

Sorry for the dumb questions, but I need to know this.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

centrino is just a marketing name and covers anything from just b to a/b/g. In other words, centrino doesnt tell you what it exactly covers.

b and g are backwards compatible, so b adapters works with g access poitns and vice versa, but they will default to the b speed. Only if both the access poitn and adapter are g will they go up to 54mbps, however, at airports, etc, there will be little speed difference eitehr way in real world usage since most internet connects are <10mbps.

801.11a is different from b/g in that it uses the 5ghz spectrum, so a adapters will not work with b/g access points

a/b or a/b/g cards can do all three

 

[KingCheeba]

Originally posted by: Ken90630

Also, as I understand it, Intel Centrino technology includes Wi-Fi capability automatically. Is this true?

Are you referring to the bustbuy/Intel commerical where that puppet is dreaming he's not attached to strings anymore? That was bogus. Centrino has nothing to do with wifi expect manage power better.

As the other guys stated, it's going to matter on the access point. I would suggest your friend to invest in a $20 802.11b card.

 

[Ken90630]

Thanks a mil, everyone. I think I have a better handle on this now. I appreciate the feedback.

Ken

 

[ShellGuy]

I would suggest he get a G card as that will cover B and G.


Will G.

 

[supagold]

Centrino is the platform name of Pentium M and an intel wireless chipset. So if it says Centrino then it definitely includes wireless support. This means you can definitely get on access points.