The Effects of Interference on General WLAN Traffic

Interference can severely degrade the performance of wireless LANs, finds a new technical note from Farpoint Group. Just how bad is it? Consider the throughput reductions caused by these common devices: Microwave oven - 62%; another wireless LAN - 89%; Bluetooth headset - 20%; cordless phone - 100%. As wireless LANs proliferate and become the default connectivity for essentially all users in enterprise environments (and beyond), the interference issue will become even more acute.