What is this standard?

How far will it reach, I have heard 400m - 3 km, so I'm unsure of what to believe.

If you could help me it would be appreciated, thank.
Matt

Re: 802.11G standard

The 802.11g standard is a new standard for wireless networking. It is not very common yet, but cards should start appearing in large numbers later this year.

802.11g uses the same frequency range as 802.11b cards, which are the most common wireless LAN cards on the market at the moment. What 802.11g offers over 802.11b is a speed increase from 11mbit to 54mbit.

The range of these cards is related to their power output. Current 802.11b cards can reach upto about 300m in a circular area. 802.11g cards are being estimated at having a range of around 100m for 54mbit operation. After this the cards will still work, but the speed will drop down, the same thing happens for current 802.11b cards. Essentially, the distance is a function of the power, the more power your card puts out, the more distance it will reach. Current 802.11b cards range from 50mW to 100mW in power output.

As an aside, there are currently community based projects using directional antennas (meaning the output from the wireless card is broadcast in a single direction, as opposed to a 360degree circle) achieving 11mbit performance at distances up to 10km using off the shelf 802.11b cards. There is little reason to suspect 802.11g cards won't work with similar performance using similar antenna.

Re: 802.11G standard

An earlier email stated that the 802.11g speed was 54Mbps.

This is incorrect. The 802.11g specification when it is ratified will operatate at 22Mbps, the current 802.11a standard is 54Mbps.

Ian