Linksys Instant Wireless Series User Manual page 13

The 802.11b standard states a maximum data transfer rate of 11Mbps and an operating frequency
of 2.4GHz.
What is the IEEE 802.11g standard?
It is one of the IEEE standards for wireless networks. The 802.11g standard allows wireless
networking hardware from different manufacturers to communicate, provided that the hardware
complies with the 802.11g standard.
The 802.11g standard states a maximum data transfer rate of 54Mbps and an operating frequency
of 2.4GHz.
What IEEE 802.11a features are supported?
The product supports the following IEEE 802.11a functions:
• OFDM protocol
• Multi-Channel Roaming
• Automatic Rate Selection
• RTS/CTS feature
• Fragmentation
What IEEE 802.11b features are supported?
The product supports the following IEEE 802.11b functions:
• CSMA/CA plus Acknowledge protocol
• Multi-Channel Roaming
• Automatic Rate Selection
• RTS/CTS feature
• Fragmentation
• Power Management
What IEEE 802.11g features are supported?
The product supports the following IEEE 802.11g functions:
• CSMA/CA plus Acknowledge protocol
• OFDM protocol
• Multi-Channel Roaming
• Automatic Rate Selection
• RTS/CTS feature
• Fragmentation
• Power Management
What is ad-hoc mode?
When a wireless network is set to ad-hoc mode, the wireless-equipped computers are configured
to communicate directly with each other. The ad-hoc wireless network will not communicate with
any wired network.
What is infrastructure mode?
When a wireless network is set to infrastructure mode, the wireless network is configured to
communicate with a wired network through a wireless access point.
What is ISM band?
The FCC and their counterparts outside of the U.S. have set aside bandwidth for unlicensed use in
the ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band. Spectrum in the vicinity of 2.4 GHz, in particular,
is being made available worldwide. This presents a truly revolutionary opportunity to place
convenient high-speed wireless capabilities in the hands of users around the globe.
What is Spread Spectrum?
Spread Spectrum technology is a wideband radio frequency technique developed by the military
for use in reliable, secure, mission-critical communications systems. It is designed to trade off
bandwidth efficiency for reliability, integrity, and security. In other words, more bandwidth is
consumed than in the case of narrowband transmission, but the trade-off produces a signal that is,
in effect, louder and thus easier to detect, provided that the receiver knows the parameters of the
spread-spectrum signal being broadcast. If a receiver is not tuned to the right frequency, a
spread-spectrum signal looks like background noise. There are two main alternatives,
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) and Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS).
What is DSSS? What is FHSS? And what are their differences?
Frequency-Hopping Spread-Spectrum (FHSS) uses a narrowband carrier that changes frequency
in a pattern that is known to both transmitter and receiver. Properly synchronized, the net effect is