802.11b/g compared to 802.11a Networks
The 520wl supports 802.11 wireless connectivity through the use of 802.11a-compliant 5 GHz, 802.11b-compliant 2.4
GHz, and 802.11g-compliant 2.4 GHz radio technology. The IEEE 802.11a standard adds support for a high-speed
wireless physical layer in the 5 GHz band using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). The standard
requires support for data rates of 6, 12, 24, and 54 Mbps. The 520wl supports the following data rates: 1, 2, 5.5, 11, 6,
9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54 Mbits/s. The IEEE 802.11b standard supports wireless physical layer in the 2.4 GHz band
using Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS). The standard provides for data rates of 1, 2, 5.5, and 11 Mbits/s.
The new IEEE 802.11g standard adds support for a high-speed wireless physical layer in the 2.4 GHz band using
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). The standard requires support for data rates of 6, 9, 12, 18, 24,
36, 48, and 54 Mbps.
The 520wl can be used with any combination of 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g AP Cards. You can have an 802.11a
and an 802.11b or 802.11g card present in the 520wl at the same time and 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz clients will be
supported simultaneously. Note however that only one 802.11a card with antenna adapter can be plugged into the
520wl at one time.
Feature List
The IEEE standards that govern wireless communications are different for the 2.4 GHz band and the 5 GHz band. The
table below compares the software features supported for each type of card in the 520wl:
Feature
2.4 GHz
(802.11b)
2.4 GHz
(802.11g)
5 GHz
(802.11a)
Comments
Number of stations per AP
up to 250
up to 128
up to 128
This information corresponds to a cas where no
encryption is enabled. For more information about the
number of stations supported when using different types
of encryption, please see the table “Number of Stations
per BSS” located in appendix A.
HTTP/HTTPS Server
yes
yes
yes
Telnet / CLI
yes
yes
yes
SNMP/SNMPv3 support
yes
yes
yes
VLAN Support (16 User VLANs)
no
yes
no
Emergency Reset to Default
Configuration
yes
yes
yes
DHCP Client
yes
yes
yes
DHCP Server
yes
yes
yes
TFTP
yes
yes
yes
RADIUS Mac-based Access Control
yes
yes
yes
Fallback to Primary RADIUS Server
yes
yes
yes
RADIUS Session Timeout
yes
yes
yes
RADIUS Multiple MAC Address Formats
yes
yes
yes
RADIUS DNS Host Name Support
yes
yes
yes
RADIUS Start/Stop Accounting
yes
yes
yes
802.1X (EAP-MD5, EAP-TLS and EAP
TTLS)
yes
yes
yes
802.1d bridging
yes
yes
yes
MAC Access Control Table
yes
yes
yes
Protocol Filtering
yes
yes
yes
Multicast/Broadcast Storm Filtering
yes
yes
yes
Proxy ARP
yes
yes
yes
Roaming
yes
yes
yes
Link Integrity
yes
yes
yes
Automatic Channel Select
yes
yes
yes
WEP
yes
yes
yes
Key lengths supported for 802.11b: 64-bit and 128-bit
Key lengths supported for 802.11a and 802.11g: 64-bit,
128-bit, and 152-bit
(Note: Some products refer to 64-bit as “40-bit”, 128-bit
as “104-bit”, and 152-bit as “128-bit”.)
WEP Plus (Weak Key Avoidance)
1
yes
no
no
WDS Relay
yes
yes
yes
Remote Link Test
1
yes
no
no
Medium Density Distribution
1
yes
no
no
Distance between APs
yes
no
no
1-4