It was ratified in June 2003 and replaced the older standard of 802.11b.
Newer, faster versions of the standard have since replaced it, but 802.11g-compliant equipment is still in use.
802.11g Rated Speed
The rated speed of 802.11g networking devices is 54 Mbps.
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However, 802.11g and otherWi-Fi connection protocolsinclude a feature calleddynamic rate scaling.
When thewireless signalbetween twoconnected Wi-Fi devicesis not strong, the connection cannot support thefastest speed.
Instead, the Wi-Fi protocol reduces its maximum transmission speed to a lower number to maintain the connection.
It is common for 802.11g connections to run at 36 Mbps, 24 Mbps, or even lower.
However, these products use proprietary extensions to the 802.11g standard to achieve higher performance.
The 54 Mbps rating represents a theoretical maximum only.
It encounters significant overhead from internet protocol data that Wi-Fi connections must exchange for security and reliability purposes.
The actual useful data exchanged on 802.11g networks always occurs at lower rates than 54 Mbps.
