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If you're torn between deploying an 802.11b WLAN and waiting for 802.11a, we have good news and bad news. First, the good news: Although they fell short of 802.11b access points in range tests, the 802.11a access points we tested did better than expected, reaching 100 feet or more in many cases. And 802.11a is fast--while 11b systems hover at around 5.5 Mbps to 6 Mbps effective throughput, 11a access points zip along at 54 Mbps with a maximum throughput of around 24 Mbps. Many products also include proprietary turbo modes that boost performance to 72 Mbps or even 108 Mbps via channel aggregation. Finally, there's the matter of overcrowding: The 2.4-GHz 802.11b band supports only three nonoverlapping channels, and Bluetooth, cordless phones and microwave ovens can make for some hefty interference. In contrast, the FCC has allocated 802.11a 300 MHz in the 5-GHz band--enough to support eight nonoverlapping channels.

But, of course, there's a downside. The range issue cannot be taken lightly because it translates into more access points needed to cover a given area, a significant financial factor in large deployments. Also, the current crop of 802.11a devices offer no backward compatibility, though we expect that to change in 2G chipsets.

That said, we think many organizations plan to take the plunge, so we installed 802.11a access points from Intel Corp., Intermec Technologies Corp., Linksys, NetGear, Proxim Corp. and SMC Networks in our Syracuse University Real-World Labs®. Our Editor's Choice award goes to Proxim for its Harmony 802.11a, which showed superior management capabilities and reached a range of 140 feet in our test environment, far exceeding its closest competitor. For SOHO deployments we like SMC's MC2755W and gave it our Best Value award.