text: Slow Data Throughput when Implementing 802.11b Clients into an 802.11g Cell
  Article ID: 65927282
  Diminished Data Throughput when Implementing 802.11b Clients into an 802.11g Cell Diminished data throughput will decrease the overall data trafficking and bandwidth efficiency in an 802.11g WLAN.
  When 802.11b clients associate to an 802.11g access point, the AP will turn on a protection mechanism called Request to Send/Clear to Send (RTS/CTS). When RTS/CTS is invoked, clients must first request access to the medium from the access point with an RTS message. Until the access point replies with a CTS message, the client will refrain from accessing the medium and transmitting its data packets. This invoked mechanism will prohibit 802.11b clients from transmitting simultaneously with 802.11g clients which avoids collisions that will decrease throughput due to retries. This overall process adds a significant amount of protocol overhead that results in a decrease in network throughput.