IEEE 802.11
The precursor to 802.11b, IEEE 802.11 was introduced in 1997. It was a beginning, but 802.11 only supported speeds up to 2 Mbps. And it supported two entirely different methods of encoding—Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) and Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS). This led to confusion and incompatibility between different vendors’ equipment.

IEEE 802.11b
802.11b is comfortably established as the most popular wireless standard. With the IEEE 802.11b Ethernet standard, wireless is fast, easy, and affordable. Wireless devices from all vendors work together seamlessly. 802.11b is a perfect example of a technology that has become both sophisticated and standardized enough to really make life simpler for its users.

The 802.11b extension of the original 802.11 standard boosts wireless throughput from 2 Mbps all the way up to 11 Mbps. 802.11b can transmit up to 200 feet under good conditions, although this distance may be reduced considerably by the presence of obstacles such as walls.

This standard uses DSSS. With DSSS, each bit transmitted is encoded and the encoded bits are sent in parallel across an entire range of frequencies. The code used in a transmission is known only to the sending and receiving stations. By transmitting identical signals across the entire range of frequencies, DSSS helps to reduce interference and makes it possible to recover lost data without retransmission.

IEEE 802.11a
The 802.11a wireless Ethernet standard is new on the scene. It uses a different band than 802.11b—the 5.8-GHz band called U-NII (Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure) in the United States. Because the U-NII band has a higher frequency and a larger bandwidth allotment than the 2.4-GHz band, the 802.11a standard achieves speeds of up to 54 Mbps. However, it’s more limited in range than 802.11b. It uses an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) encoding scheme rather than FHSS or DSSS.

IEEE 802.11g
802.11g is an extension of 802.11b and operates in the same 2.4-GHz band as 802.11b. It brings data rates up to 54 Mbps using OFDM technology.

Because it's actually an extension of 802.11b, 802.11g is backward-compatible with 802.11b—an 802.11b device can interface directly with an 802.11g access point. However, because 802.11g also runs on the same three channels as 802.11b, it can crowd already busy frequencies.

Super G® is a subset of 802.11g and is a proprietary extension of the 802.11g standard that doubles throughput to 108 Mbps. Super G is not an IEEE approved standard. If you use it, you should use devices from one vendor to ensure compatibility. Super G is generally backwards compatible with 802.11g.