Why has 802.11 flourished while Bluetooth has essentially failed? Should we even care about Bluetooth? The crux of the problem is that 802.11 represents the Internet and Bluetooth represents the faux ...

The IEEE 802.11 specification (ISO/IEC 8802-11) is an international standard describing the characteristics of a wireless local area network (WLAN). The name Wi-Fi (which stands for Wireless Fidelity, ...

It used to be the case that the ability to communicate wirelessly was a unique specialty among computing systems. These days it is rapidly becoming an expected feature, something that is assumed. An ...

The big news in wireless is the expected ratification of Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) by the IEEE standards body early this year. Some vendors are already shipping pre-standard Wi-Fi 7 gear, and the Wi-Fi ...

When wireless networking based around the 802.11b standard first hit consumer markets in the late nineties, it looked pretty good on paper. Promising “11 Mbps” compared to original wired Ethernet’s 10 ...

In response to reader requests for a refresher in basic wireless LAN operations, I’ll finish up a discussion I began last time of 802.11 WLAN channel assignments and user access. Some of you have ...

In early 2000, the IEEE 802.11 Task Group G was given the job of developing a higher-speed, backward-compatible physical-layer extension to the highly successful IEEE 802.11b standard. The new ...

Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D ...

I've been writing about WiMAX and the 3G/4G cellular technologies lately and every now and then I see references to the IEEE 802.20 standard. In case you are not familiar with it, it is a mobile ...

The Killer Wireless-N 1202 is a worthwhile upgrade for gamers and others who require low-latency wireless network connectivity. Gamers are always hunting for a competitive edge, and the folks at ...

In a mysterious outbreak of common sense, the Wi-Fi Alliance has dumped the traditional 802.11 naming scheme for Wi-Fi technologies and is pushing ahead with a naming scheme based on numbers. Under ...