Among the physical layers, .11, .11b, .11a, .11g and Draft n offer progressive speeds over the course of development, which are as follows
| Standard | Year | Modulation | Peak Rate | Peak Throughput |
| .11 | 1999 | DSSS | 2 Mbps | 1 Mbps |
| .11b | 1999 | CCK | 11 Mbps | 6 Mbps |
| .11a | 1999 | OFDM | 54 Mbps | 25 Mbps |
| .11g | 2003 | OFDM | 54 Mbps | 22 Mbps |
| Draft n | 2006 | MIMO OFDM | 300 Mbps | 180 Mbps |
Also available are security features vital to wireless protection; QoS support that improves the service quality when service compromise becomes inevitable; radar detection that avoids interference with airport or weather Radar operations.
Users should evaluate application needs carefully and tailor the product appropriately. A sample of video application requirements are listed as follows:
| Application | Throughput |
| SDTV | 5 Mbps |
| Cable Modem | 6 Mbps |
| DVD | 9.8 Mbps |
| HDTV | 12.9 Mbps |
| ADSL2+ | 20 Mbps |
| FTTH | 30 Mbps |
| HD DVD | 36 Mbps |
| Blue-ray DVD | 48 Mbps |
| VDSL | 50 Mbps |
Video streaming is very demanding in frame errors, e.g., FER < 10-4 or tighter, so the peak throughput of a specific WLAN device is recommended to scale down to one-third of its original value for budgetary purposes. For example, a peak throughput of 15 Mbps is necessary for satisfactory SDTV streaming at 5 Mbps in general.
Ralink offers a full array of WLAN products including the latest Draft-n chipset. Peak throughput exceeds 180 Mbps in lab tests, which meets all of the above video application requirements with ease.