Making the 802.11s work together
Is it possible to have an AP with 802.11g standard, and clients with 802.11b and g cards, and have them all work at the same time at different "speed"?

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Yes, standard 802.11g access points can simultaneously support newer Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (ODFM) modulation with data rates ranging from 6-54 Mbps, and older Barker Code and Complementary Code Keying (CCK) modulation with data rates ranging from 1-11 Mbps. 802.11g products certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance are tested for compatibility with both standards and simultaneous 802.11g and 802.11b client support.

The AP and station exchange supported data rates in 802.11 management frames -- for example, APs send Beacon frames that identify their supported data rates, and APs and stations exchange supported data rates in Association Request and Response frames. Thus, stations can learn about an AP's capabilities and use a supported rate without requiring all stations to use the same rate. Once connected, rate can actually be auto-adjusted for changes in signal strength, distance, and other environmental conditions.

Having APs support both OFDM and CCK is intended to ease migration from 802.11b to 802.11g, just as you describe. Newer stations can take advantage of faster data rates, while older stations operate at slower rates. However, you are probably asking this: if there are 802.11b stations present, how much do they impact the performance of 802.11g stations? You may have heard about some early interoperability testing that identified problems (see PCWorld, 802.11-Planet). Early testing was conducted with pre-standard "G" products, and the standard was tweaked to address known problems before being ratified in June. Recent press releases suggest that kinks have been resolved (for example, see Texas Instruments). Further field experience is needed with final-standard-compliant 802.11g products to prove this out.

This was first published in July 2003