The IEEE 802.11 is a communications protocol that defines the use of the two lower layers of the OSI model (physical layer and data link), specifying its rules of operation for a wireless network (WLAN). The key technology that contains the 802.11 standard is the Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS). The DSSS applies to wireless devices operating within the range of 1-2 Mbps. A DSSS system can transmit up to 11 Mbps, but if operating above 2 Mbps are considered not compliant.
Also called 802.11b Wi-Fi or wireless high-speed and refers to DSSS systems operating at 1, 2, 5.5 and 11 Mbps 802.11b. All systems comply with the rule retrospectively, and which are also compatible with 802.11 data transmission speeds of 1 and 2 Mbps DSSS only. This backward compatibility is very important as it allows for wireless network upgrade without replacing the NIC or access points. 802.11b devices achieve higher rates of data transfer rate and using an encoding technique other than that of 802.11, allowing the transfer of a greater amount of data in the same amount of time. Most 802.11b devices have not yet reached transfer rates of 11 Mbps, usually working in a range of 2-4 Mbps. Read the rest of this entry »