AirPort and 802.11g

[originaljohn]

I have been reading some articles about the emerging 802.11g standard. One thing that still isn't clear to me, though, is whether we can expect that access points based on the 802.11b standard will be upgradeabe (via firmware) to the new g standard.

If I purchase an AirPort base station now, will i be able to upgrade it when the new standard is completed?


Thanks!
John

 

[originaljohn]

In the current state of consumer-grade computing, a currently shipping device will never have upgrade capabilities to a standard that hasn't even been etched in gold. Get real.

Well, "Get[ting] real" is precisely why I ask the question. I have read one article that suggested that a firmware upgrade might elevate a b access point to g, and i'm quite skeptical.

However, hasn't there been an example of something similar in the past? I vaguely recall purchasing a modem that promised a firmware upgrade to a then yet-to-be-released 56 Kbps standard. At the time there were two competing standards: one established (v.34?) and a second emerging standard (Flex something?), and I bought a modem based on the first standard that promised a firmware upgrade to support the second, when it was complete.

Thanks for the info.

 

[ulrik]

Originally posted by t h
As a matter of fact, differences in current AirPort technology have not shown any upgradeability (e.g., 40-bit WEP vs. 128-bit WEP).

Do you want to imply that you can't get 128 bit WEP with an old Airport base station via firmware upgrade? Than I must be a genius...