WLAN card speeds
About the four wireless networking standards
The 802.11b wireless networking standard was the first widely available wireless networking solution that users could buy; the vast majority of public wireless spaces, including coffeehouses and restaurants and the like, use the 802.11b standard. It uses the 2.4 Ghz frequency for communication, and the fastest speed an 802.11b user can theoretically have is 11 Mbps. (More about why you won't actually see this speed in real life is explained below).The 802.11a and 802.11g standards both offer a higher theoretical maximum speed of 54 Mbps. However, nearly half of that is used for routine communication between your computer and the wireless access point it's communicating with, not for transfer of your data requests. 24 Mbps is the highest speed that wireless cards are required to support, and you won't see those speeds in practice either (also explained below).
The 802.11a standard uses the 5.5 Ghz frequency, a signal which is less used by other devices (a bonus for wireless network users) but the signal strength drops off more quickly as you go farther from the access point. However, because there's less interference, it may be easier to design good 802.11a coverage than 802.11b or 802.11g coverage in a given area.
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