In wireless terms, what do 'supported rates' refer to?

• A. Capabilities advertised to the other side
• B. The speed of the router's CPU
• C. The LAN port rate
• D. The maximum number of clients

Answer: (A)

Supported rates are the data transmission speeds that a wireless device can use and, during connection setup, advertise to the other side. When two devices associate, each one shares its rate set in management frames so both ends know which speeds they can support and can agree on a common subset to use. This ensures the link operates at a speed that both devices can handle, enabling reliable communication and proper rate negotiation. It’s not about the router’s CPU speed, the LAN port speed, or how many clients can connect.