List of Different Wi-Fi Protocols With Full Comparison
What are Wi-Fi Protocols?
Various Wi-Fi Protocols fall under the major category of IEEE 802 PROTOCOL Cluster. Its elements are designed to interwork with less interference with its wired companion Ethernet.
IEEE 802 is a big collection of networking standards that cover the working principles for such wireless technologies. These networking specifications apply to local areas and also to metropolitan area networks.
IEEE 802 standards facilitate the smooth working of connectivity and network technologies. It is divided into 22 categories that cover the overall aspects of networking.
The entire collection of standards is formulated and maintained by the IEEE 802 Standards Committee, also known as LMSC. IEEE is the acronym for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
The different working groups of this network standard are as follows:
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802.1 Protocol
The 802.1 protocol serves the purpose of being a bridge between different forms of connection. It supports the management and bridging of the local area & metropolitan area networks. It also consists of time-sensitive networking groups within itself.
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802.3 Protocol
This protocol is an ethernet facility. It is considered the supreme category among the other standards of the IEEE protocol family.
802.3 protocol in Wi-Fi provides networking frameworks that certainly are less synchronous and is a detector of collision situations by multiple accesses. The speed range lies between 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps.
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802.11 Protocol
It supports all sorts of Wi-Fi connections throughout local or metropolitan area frameworks. The 802.11 protocol in Wi-Fi consists of multiple other subcategories, which are as follows-
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802.11a Protocol
This is the older version of networking standards for Wi-Fi access protocols and provides enhanced speed up to 54 Mbps.
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802.11b Protocol
It is an upgrade to the 802.11a protocol with a speed range of up to 11 Mbps.
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802.11d Protocol
The enhancement is made to the upper network standard versions and facilitates effective function in roaming situations.
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802.11e Protocol
It includes better quality features than the original 802.11 access protocol and imparts priority to voice, video, and data transfers.
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802.11g Protocol
This protocol elongates the maximum data rate of WLAN devices in a manner that permits better interactivity with 802.11b devices
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802.15 Protocol
It supports the functioning of wireless personal area networks (WPANs). It was approved by IEEE in 2002 for communication specifications around wireless personal area networking.
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802.16 Protocol
It supports wireless metropolitan area networking. This protocol includes fixed and mobile broadband wireless access procedures that are used to create Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks.
There are many more such categories that belong to the IEEE protocols collection as well.
Comparison of Wi-Fi Protocols (Differences)
Here is a quick summary and comparison of Wi-Fi Access Protocols:
Test your knowledge with a quick quiz!
____ is a big collection of networking standards that cover the working principles for such wireless technologies.
Select the correct answer