802.11 Standards

Question 1

802.11 (1997)

Answer 1

Speeds of 2 Mbps, 2.4 Ghz
Fun Fact: This was the first ever Wireless network, was slow and is now obsolete

Question 2

802.11a (1999)

Answer 2

Speeds of up to 54 Mbps, 5 Ghz
Fun Fact: Offered a network that had less connectivity issues due to it being on a higher frequency, but was also at a shorter range

Question 3

802.11b (1999)

Answer 3

Speeds of up to 11Mbps, 2.4Ghz
Fun Fact: This was the first widely adopted wireless network, but because of this is a very crowded network

Question 4

802.11g (2003)

Answer 4

Speeds of up to 54Mbps, 2.4 Ghz
Fun Fact: Improved upon the standards of 802.11 offering higher speeds, but had a similar issue because it struggles with high interference. Allowed for Backward compatibility.

Question 5

802.11n (2009)

Answer 5

Speeds of up to 600Mbps, 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz (Dual-Band Support)
Fun Fact: This is the first to include MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) for better speed and range, and was the first to support Dual-Band support.

Question 6

802.11ac (Wifi 5) (2013)

Answer 6

Speeds of up to 6.93Gbps, 5Ghz
Fun Fact: Introduced MU-MIMO(Multi-User MIMO) for better efficiency, this offered a huge improvement upon speeds, but limited the range of the internet.

Question 7

802.11ax (Wifi 6 & Wifi 6E) (2019)

Answer 7

Speeds of up to 9.6 Gbps, 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz, and 6Ghz(Wi-Fi 6E)
Fun Fact: Uses OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) for better performance in crowded areas, also introducing 6Ghz Wifi, which allowed for less congestion, and offers the best range and speeds so far