How Compatible are Super G & A/G Products?

By | October 20th, 2003 comments icon (0) Comments


Due to the recent announcements of 108Mbps “Super G” and “Super A/G” wireless networking gear, which are products based on the 802.11g specification (maximum data transfer rate of 54Mbps), that have been modified with proprietary technology to enable Ethernet-like speeds.

We decided to contact Atheros Communications Inc., the company behind the chipset and firmware that makes “Super” speeds possible, and ask them: How is this done? and, more importantly, What are the compatibility issues across other Atheros based products from D-Link, Netgear, etc., if any?

Cheryl Patstone, the Director of Corporate Marketing at Atheros, was kind enough to respond:

The Super G and Super A/G advanced features should be compatible across products from different Atheros customers. One caveat however. The “Super” feature set uses a combination of several different performance-enhancement techniques: standards-based packet bursting, real-time compression, fast frames, and turbo mode. Some of these capabilities may not be implemented in every customer’s product. For example, the turbo mode of operation is not allowed in Japan, so products designed for or sold in the Japanese market will not enable that particular feature (and thus the full 108 Mbps data rate).

The chipsets in each product do not have to be the same. We have implemented the “Super” capability in our AR5001X+ solution, as well as all chipsets in our AR5002 and AR5004 families.

* To see if your product is capable of “Super” 108Mbps speeds, go to Atheros 802.11™ Customer Product Search Page, where you can compare models & chipsets.





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