802.11b upgradeability questions

[TedBell]

Hi all, just had some questions about the current and future
interoperability situation. Thanks much if anyone can help.

I've seen it said that the newer 802.11b devices should be
upgradeable via firmware upgrades to support 802.11g.
Why only newer devices? I've got some old 11b SysLink and
Orinoco cards, access points, and residential gateways, and they
all allow for firmware upgrades, so shouldn't they also be able to
eventually be flashed to support 11g? If not, why not?

Has anybody compiled some kind of list which shows which
devices are going to be upgradeable? Or does anybody have
a rough estimate of how many of the latest devices will be
upgradeable? I'm curious how much of the installed base that
this effects -- my fellow early adoptees. ;)

Thanks again,
Ted

[JimGeier]

Ted, you're definately asking some good questions. The problem is that there are no clear answers yet. The upgradeablity from 802.11b to 802.11g depends on how the previous access point or radio card implements the associated functionality. If the functions related to the enchancements that 802.11g provides (e.g., OFDM) is not implemented in firmware of the older hardware, then you'll likely not be able to upgrade the hardware. This often falls back to the chipsets that the vendor is using. Vendors have kept this level of information confidential.

[John Klein]

The MAC in many current 11b designs is implemented in upgradeable firmware, but there's no one who claims to have implemented a baseband processor in firmware aka software.

The embedded general purpose processor's just aren't powerful (and in turn, power hungry) enough, so baseband processing is an actual embedded ASIC.

Consequently, I wouldn't hold my breath of upgrading ANY 11b equipment to 11g. We'll all have to replace our equipment to go to g.

[Sumaryo]

You should be able to continue using your 802.11b devices in an 802.11g environments, just as you still be able to drive the old Chevy alongside the more modern and more powerfull (and faster) V-8 engine. Obviously you will be a hell of trouble to upgrade Chevy to be on a par with a V-8 engine, just as difficult to upgrade an 802.11b to an 802.11g comply devices, if not impossible at all.

[JimGeier]

A problem with using 802.11b in an 802.11g environment, however, will be that RTS/CTS must be used. This will lower throughput significantly for all stations.

[John Klein]

That's a good point. As long as there are any legacy 11b laptops around, you shouldn't expect to see more than about 10Mbps of throughput out of your 11g laptops because of the RTS/CTS mechanism.