Wireless flavors ... a, b, g ...

[b4u]

Hi,

I'm thinking about buying a wireless cable/dsl router to my home ... I currently have just one machine, but will have a laptop equiped with a nice network b/g functionality.

Now browsing the web, I found linksys to have dual-band a+g wireless routers, and that brought some confusion to my mind ...

Wasn't there only b/g flavors? Then a b/g router would be dual band ... or would it not?

For instance the Linksys Model WRT55AG has the following info:

Dual-Band Wireless A + G
Broadband Router
2.4GHz (54g) + 5GHz (802.11a)

I believe that all laptops selling today are b/g compliant ... so what's up with the "a" flavor?

Can anyone clarify this for me, to help me choose what would be the best option?

Thank you.

 

[bluestrobe]

"A" is mainly used if you have other wireless networks or electronic devices that would interfere with a b/g device. Thats what I've always been told. "A" isn't as popular as b/g and usually costs more.

 

[skyking]

A runs at 5.4 ghz. Like the poster above said, it is more expensive for adapters, etc.
Your friends will most likely not have the right adapter for your system, so they'd be unable to connect at your place. Of course, you may not have any friends...........

 

[JackMDS]

802.11a 54Mb/sec. This technology is not compatible with the 802.11b/g, and may have some problems across brands (it was mainly installed in cooperate environment before 802.11g came out).

Link to: Wireless What Should I Get?

:sun: