Network Computing is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

  1. Home
  2. Wireless-infrastructure
  3. Analysis-alternative-wlan-technologies
  4. Page
  5. Analysis: Alternative WLAN Technologies: Page 16 of 16
Wireless Infrastructure

Analysis: Alternative WLAN Technologies: Page 16 of 16

Can your WLAN handle imminent growth? If your wireless strategy needs an upgrade, there are alternative technologies worth considering. We examine innovative solutions that are challenging WLAN market vendors.
March 30, 2007

As this diagram describes, the coverage area for the highest link rate is the smallest, but the coverage area for the lowest link rate could be 10 times more.

There's one more factor in play: clear channel assessment (CCA). This check measures the amount of energy in the air before any client transmits. Because RF energy travels beyond the 1-Mbps link rate range (according to some, twice as far), increasing the transmit power extends the range and therefore area that might cause distant clients to fail their CCA, reducing that area's aggregate throughput.

Although these concerns paint a dismal picture of 802.11 technology, the reality is that in environments with a large quantity of nondemanding users or a low quantity of high-demanding users, performance remains adequate when coverage is a attained through increasing output power.

Frank Bulk is an NWC contributing editor and works for a telecommunications company based in the Midwest. Write to him at [email protected]. Go To the Image Gallery for this feature >>

Tags:

News
Wireless Infrastructure
Networking