Waiting on 802.11g

Even though the IEEE 802.11g, high-speed, 2.4-GHz wireless standard is still in draft stage, some vendors have shipped products complying with it. Among the first are Apple Computer, Buffalo Technology, D-Link and Linksys.

We tested Buffalo Technology's 11g product. It was impressive but had a few glitches--some serious. Effective transmission range for 11g was about the same as it is for 11b and about 75 percent to 85 percent of what we get with an enterprise Cisco 11b AP--our standard in range testing.

Using Buffalo's 11g NIC, we coaxed about 16.5 Mbps of throughput out of the system, compared with about 24 Mbps for the best 11a products we've tested.

When we combined an 11g and an 11b client on the same channel--the promise of 11g--aggregate throughput fell to about 7 Mbps. It was just more than 6 Mbps with two 11g and two 11b clients.Performance for 11b was just under 5 Mbps for a single-client test. But we had interoperability problems with 11b NICs from Cisco and Symbol. Buffalo says these problems will be resolved in the update. Still, it's hard to believe such problems got through the quality-assurance process. It will be a challenge to get 11g and 11b, which use different signaling technologies, to play together on one network.

Some configuration tweaks in the works may improve the situation. But even if solutions to all the problems are found, you'll still have three nonoverlapping channels at 2.4 GHz and potential interference from cordless telephones, microwave ovens and other devices.