How fast is PAL? What kind of data transfer speeds should users expect?
The 802.11b standard has a maximum throughput of 11Mbps (comparable to 10base-T Ethernet) and but 802.11g increases the maximum throughput to 54Mbps The bandwidth available from one AP is shared among all users in its range. Further, an individual user’s bandwidth can increase or decrease according to the strength of the signal the user’s device is currently receiving. Therefore, PAL users should expect to see speeds around 4 to 6Mbps of throughput when associated with an 802.11b AP and around 15 to 27Mbps when associated to an 802.11g AP. There is a widespread piece of misinformation regarding data transfer speeds when users are in a mixed b/g environment. Popular information states that if an 802.11b client enters an area populated entirely by 802.11g clients, the speed for all users is dropped to 11Mbps for compatibiltity. This is part truth. There are two major types of network traffic: unicast and broadcast. The above scenario only affects broadcast traffic since all users must be
