In computer lingo 802.11 stands for wireless connection. When you go and buy routers, network cards, switches, etc you will see it say 802.11 followed by a series of letters; typically a,b,g,pre-n, or n. The letters represents the speed and the range of the wireless card. 802.11A basically allows you 54mbits per second. It only gives you however a range of 100ft. 802.11b is a speed of only 11mbits per second, but give you a range of up to 300ft. The latest format that is up to draft so far today if 802.11g which is what most computers today have been released with. It has been the standard since June of 2003, and gives you a max speed of 54mbits and a range of 300ft.

The N that everyone has been talking about is still not out, but you can go ahead and still purchase 802.11n cards. The cards all support N, however, the standard itself is not out yet. They are expecting to have it out by Novemeber of 2009. The N allows you up to 600mbits of data per second which is a huge improvement from G and also 600ft which is double of G. the N format also feathers MIMO which stands for multiple input multiple output format which I will talk about in another blog post.

Basically what this means for you is that you can still purchase N cards, routers, etc, but they might not be up to standard when it is released, however, they will work just fine!