A new Wi-Fi standard now allows wireless transmissions to be four to five times faster. A new standard, 802.11g, is replacing the old standard of 802.11b. This was approved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Hewlett-Packard and Texas Instruments are expected to take the lead in creating desktops, laptops and chips that can manage this new standard. US consumers have spent $1.8 billion in 2003 on this technology which is expected to grow.

Wi-Fi signals are similar to those from cordless phones. So far, complaints about these radio waves popular for networking have been interference from microwave ovens and telephone signals. The new standard uses the same frequency those devices use.


http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-06-13-wifi_x.htm