802.11g is one of the IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association) standards for Wi-Fi wireless networking technology. It was ratified in June 2003 and replaced the older 802.11b standard. Newer, faster versions of the standard have since replaced it, but 802.11g-compatible equipment is still in use.
Wireless Standards – N10-008 CompTIA Network+: 2.4
The nominal speed of 802.11g network devices is 54 Mbps. However, 802.11g and other Wi-Fi network protocols include a feature called dynamic speed scaling. When the wireless signal between two connected Wi-Fi devices is not strong, the connection cannot support the highest speed. Instead, the Wi-Fi protocol reduces the 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. When set dynamically, these values become the new theoretical maximum speeds for that connection, which in practice are even lower due to the overhead of the Wi-Fi protocol.
Some 802.11g wireless home networking products, labeled Xtreme G and Super G network routers and adapters, support a bandwidth of 108 Mbps. However, these products use proprietary enhancements to the 802.11g standard to achieve higher performance. When a 108 Mbps product is connected to a standard 802.11g device, performance drops to the maximum speed of 54 Mbps.
