Airtime fairness provides fair access to the medium time for all participants with the same priority. This in contrast with the packet fairness delivered by the 802.11 standard which provides fair access to the medium for all participants, regardless of how much a participant is using the medium.
Packet fairness is the default 802.11 access role. Each WLAN participant gets the same (equal) opportunity to send packets. All WLAN clients will show the same throughput, regardless of their PHY rate.
Airtime fairness gives each WLAN participant the same (equal) time access. WLAN clients’ throughput will be proportional to their PHY rate.
Doug Hyde
Director, Technical Support / Extreme Networks