Editing IEEE 802.11 (section)

==Common misunderstandings about achievable throughput==
[[File:Throughputenvelope80211g.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Graphical representation of Wi‑Fi application-specific ([[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]]) performance envelope in the 2.4&nbsp;GHz band with 802.11g. 1 Mbps = 1 [[Mbit/s]].]]

Across all variations of 802.11, maximum achievable throughputs are given either based on measurements under ideal conditions or in the layer-2 data rates. However, this does not apply to typical deployments in which data is being transferred between two endpoints, of which at least one is typically connected to a wired infrastructure and the other endpoint is connected to an infrastructure via a wireless link.

[[File:ThroughputEnvelope11n.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Graphical representation of Wi‑Fi application-specific ([[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]]) performance envelope in the 2.4&nbsp;GHz band with 802.11n, using a 40&nbsp;MHz channel]]

This means that, typically, data frames pass an 802.11 (WLAN) medium and are being converted to [[802.3]] ([[Ethernet]]) or vice versa. Due to the difference in the frame (header) lengths of these two media, the application's packet size determines the speed of the data transfer. This means applications that use small packets (e.g., VoIP) create dataflows with high-overhead traffic (i.e., a low [[goodput]]). Other factors that contribute to the overall application data rate are the speed with which the application transmits the packets (i.e., the data rate) and, of course, the energy with which the wireless signal is received. The latter is determined by distance and by the configured output power of the communicating devices.<ref>{{cite conference|title=Towards Energy-Awareness in Managing Wireless LAN Applications|first1=Markus|last1=Tauber|first2=Saleem|last2=Bhatti|first3=Yi|last3=Yu|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241631429|conference=IEEE/IFIP NOMS 2012: IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium|location=Maui, HI, USA|doi=10.1109/NOMS.2012.6211930|access-date=2014-08-11|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813094612/http://www.researchgate.net/publication/241631429_Towards_energy-awareness_in_managing_wireless_LAN_applications?ev=prf_pub|archive-date=2014-08-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite conference|title=Application Level Energy and Performance Measurements in a Wireless LAN|first1=Markus|last1=Tauber|first2=Saleem|last2=Bhatti|first3=Yi|last3=Yu|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224264522|conference=The 2011 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Green Computing and Communications|location=Sichuan, China|doi=10.1109/GreenCom.2011.26|access-date=2014-08-11|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813113706/http://www.researchgate.net/publication/224264522_Application_Level_Energy_and_Performance_Measurements_in_a_Wireless_LAN?ev=prf_pub|archive-date=2014-08-13}}</ref>

The same references apply to the attached graphs that show measurements of [[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]] throughput. Each represents an average (UDP) throughput (please note that the error bars are there but barely visible due to the small variation) of 25 measurements. Each is with a specific packet size (small or large) and with a specific data rate (10&nbsp;kbit/s – 100&nbsp;Mbit/s). Markers for traffic profiles of common applications are included as well. These figures assume there are no packet errors, which, if occurring, will lower the transmission rate further.