Users planning to install wireless LAN capabilities for telecommuting employees will soon have to choose between equipment that operates on two competing and incompatible standards endorsed by different industry groups, each backed by a roster of heavyweight technology vendors.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Thursday approved the use of wideband frequency-hopping channels in the 2.4-GHz spectrum band, a policy shift backed by the HomeRF Working Group, which includes companies such as Intel Corp., Compaq Computer Corp., Motorola Inc., RadioShack Corp. and Proxim Inc.

The rule-making by the FCC will allow manufacturers of HomeRF equipment to boost frequency-hopping wireless LAN throughput -- which, as the name implies, hops among 15 different channels in the 2.4-GHz band -- from 2M bit/sec to as much as 11M bit/sec. The FCC said in a statement that wideband frequency hopping will support high-speed wireless communications that integrate data, voice and video for access to the Internet and other applications.

But Ken Dulaney, an analyst at Gartner Group Inc. in Stamford, Conn., said the FCC's decision could add confusion to a market that already features a competing wireless LAN technology developed for home use by the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA). Members of that vendor group include Lucent Technologies Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and Apple Computer Inc.

Having two wireless LAN standards will create "the local-area equivalent of the cellular mess the U.S is in," Dulaney said, referring to the differing standards that make it impossible for cell phone users to easily migrate from one carrier's network to another. Dulaney added that he's advising corporate users to stick with the WECA-backed 802.11B wireless LAN standard in order to "become compatible with the rest of the world."

WECA members make wireless LAN equipment that provides 11M bit/sec speeds in the 2.4-GHz band through a technique called direct sequence, which evenly spreads the signals across all the channels in the band. The WECA group opposed the HomeRF standard during the FCC's rule-making process, arguing that the frequency hopping could cause interference with direct-sequence equipment.

WECA spokesman C. Brian Grimm said the Mountain View, Calif.-based organization will have a detailed comment on the FCC's decision next week. But he noted that the group's members still believe they "already offer superior reliability and throughput" compared with HomeRF's backers.

However, Ben Manny, chairman of the Portland, Ore.-based HomeRF group, said the ruling by the FCC gives the proponents of the frequency-hopping technology "everything we need to develop these next-generation devices." Manny added that the new rule "levels the playing field" between the two competing standards.