Which is better- 802.11b or 802.11g? What about compatibility? THANK YOU!?

Question

If my modem uses 802.11b, but my wireless network router is 802.11g, what happens? Again, thanks!

Answer 1

G is much faster, but your router is backwards compatible with B.

Your PC uses B, so your router "down-shifts" to the lower speed automatically.

Only if your Internet connection is faster than 5000 mbps would you see a speed increase with a 802.11G adapter.

Call your ISP for more info.

Answer 2

Modems don't use 802.11B or G. Wireless network cards uses 802.11B, G, and a. A wireless B card should connect to a G router just fine as long as the router is configured to allow B cards to connect. (Which is probably the default setting.) Likewise a G card can connect to a B router. Wireless A is entirely seperate and you're not likely to encounter any of that hardware anyways. (Except maybe for cards that do A in addtion to B or G.)


The difference is speed. G is faster then B in theory. Your internet connection is probably slower then B speeds though so it may not make a difference. (It may matter when using other stuff, like file sharing between two local computers using wireless.) A G card connecting to a B router would run at B speeds. A B card connecting to a G router would also run at B speeds.

Answer 3

802.11b refers to the specifications used by the wireless router. Your modem (unless it's a modem/wireless router) has nothing to do with 802.11b or 802.11g. Nowadays, most routers operate at 802.11g/b so it really doesn't make a difference. Only differnce is that g has more bandwidth as it allows up to 54mbits/sec but since your download speed from the internet wouldn't get taht high, you won't notice. Your modem is hardwired to the wall. Then you connect your modem to your router to enable wireless routing.

Answer 4

802.11g is better because it's faster, but b and g are compatible, so that combination of modem and router will work.

Since the modem is slower, it'll be the "speed limit" for how fast things go overall in your setup. Good luck and have fun!

Answer 5

that just has to do with signals.

a b signal only lets a wireless device go at 11mbps

a g signal lets a device go at 54mbps.

your router is a g so its sending the signal at 54mbps. but your adapter is only a b so it canly process it at 11mbps. so your internet is not as fast as it could be. sry.

to go more into detail ---------

there are a few kind of signals.

a, b, g, super g, n

a- nobody uses anymore. its horible.

b- only goes at 11mbps. but it can go further.

g - lacks the range but speed is beter at 54mbps

super g - oh thats fun. lacks range but speed is awsome. its
108 mbps. and well to put that in prespective. when
you connect it directly to the modem your pc will
only go 100mbps. so in this case wireless is faster
network cable.
n- this is the newest inovation inwireless it takes the speed og supper g with the range of b and puts them together. but since its so new its more expensive.

so just get a super g router and a super g card and you will be fine

or just keep what you have and you will be fine.

Answer 6

802.11g is better... 54mbps for g and 11mbps for b....if you have an old wireless card it might only work with b....g is faster...all the wireless router nowadays will use g...g is backwards compatible to b

Answer 7

While technically not true from a design POV, you can consider 11b as a subset of 11g, whatever 11g device it is (in your case router) can join up 11b network as another 11b device.