Re: Something that worked right

There's no real reason to make new b gear.  802.11g is almost 5x faster
and is backwards compatible.  Also, as near as I can tell b only
supports WEP security which is practically useless; g supports WPA which
is far better.

802.11a never really caught on, which is a bit of a shame really.  Like
Betamax v. VHS, 802.11a was better than b.  a & b/g aren't
cross-compatible but there are adapters that have the necessary guts to
talk to both.

802.11n is still in draft form but no one expects any significant
changes to the spec between now & final-form (expected IIRC in 2008).
802.11n can go up to 6x g speeds, hitting a potential 300Mbps and making
it directly competitive with wired LAN speeds.  It should also have
better range and average stronger signal strengths.  I don't see any
particular issue with buying "pre-N" equipment now except the minor
price premium; a firmware update should bring pre-N to actual spec.
Intel's Centrino wireless chip will be adding n support sometime this
year (ahead of the final spec approval).