I understand that there is a new wireless standard available, 802.11a. Will this be backward comapatible with my current .11b cards? Does it transmit on a different frequency? Does it have superior range or simply superior bandwidth? The problem with my current program is range, not bandwidth and I am trying to decide if it is worth the money to change.
Sadly, no. There are dual (both 802.11a and 802.11b) access points that will allow the use of both, but it isn’t really backwards compatible.
Yes. 802.11b operates at 2.4 GHz, while 802.11a operates at 5 GHz
It has superior bandwidth, somewhat less range.**
I think you should look into the new 802.11g. It has the speed of 802.11a, the range of 802.11b, and is backwards compatible with 802.11b. I suspect it will become very popular.