Wireless cards?

Question

I am looking for a wireless card on eBay. I noticed that they all have different numbers/letters behind them. Do all wireless cards work the same (provided you buy the right one for your pc) or are some faster than others? If so...which ones are fast?

Answer 1

Here is the breakdown.

802.11b is 2.4 gig frequency and 11mb speed
802.11g is 2.4 gig and 54mg (some routers and cards support compression and claim 108mb but have to match and use same mfgs on all cards and router)
802.11n (Still not finalized but) is 100+mb but shorter range in most cases than 802.11g

(Any of the 2.4 will work with 2.4 routers, the system speed will be limited by 1. the router used and 2. the cards used. If the router is 802.11g and the card is g then 54mb should be the expected speed with good signal. If the card used is an 802.11b then 11mb is the speed with good signal. Either of these will work fine for the internet as the internet speed is generally under 11mbs. The US average these days is 4.2mbs.) If you are working locally on your local network the higher speeds will work better!

802.11a is 5.4-5.8 gig freq and can be up to 100mb

Home routers are mostly 802.11g or 802.11n these days
there are a few dual band 2.4 and 5.8 routers but not many and not cheap.