Sure. I have 3 customers doing exactly that. 2 businesses and a coffee shop. The trick is to use different channels (1, 6, and 11) so that they don't interfere with each other. If you try to handle both
802.11b and 802.11g on a single access point, the 802.11b users will slow everyone else down. However, with 2 access points, with one set to 802.11g speeds only, there's no slow down. There's less of a need for this today, where just about everything that enters the business of coffee shop can do 802.11g. However, that was not the case 3 years ago, when 802.11b devices were still appearing.Well, do you have any 802.11b only client computahs or devices? If not, then just turn off 802.11b and set it for 802.11g only. If yes, setup a 2nd 802.11b device as an access point, and turn it on only when necessary.
Incidentally, if you plan to shovel 16Mbits/sec over wireless, methinks you're going to have to do some careful benchmarking and shopping. Many routers will not pass 16Mbits/sec. See chart at:
These are for wired, not wireless connections. Wireless only makes it worse. With 802.11g only, running at the maximum of 54Mbits/sec data rate, the best you can do is about 25Mbits/sec thruput. That's under ideal conditions, which only exist in the advertisers imagination. Add a little interference, a few reflections, some multipath, a dash of frequency selective fading, and your theoretical thruput become much worse. If you're going to do benchmarking, see iPerf and Jperf.
For a major speed increase, think about trying MIMO. Here's where the specs really get ugly (and everyone lies). In theory, you can do up to about 400Mbits/sec throughput, but nobody has been able to demonstrate that. Here's 300Mbits/sec:
I've seen 225Mbits/sec, but only in a rather unrealistic laboratory arrangement. That was at a range of about 8 meters. If you try going through a wall or two, your speed will drop back to 802.11g speeds and below. More realistically, you might get about 50Mbits/sec thruput, which should be sufficient for your 16Mbits/sec connection.
Incidentally, the 40MHz bandwidth flavor of MIMO (802.11n) disables
802.11b legacy compatibility, so you won't have to worry about that slow down. You can also disable 802.11g compatibility, but that results in some rather bizarre range versus speed effects.Also, DOCSIS 3.0 is probably coming. Comcast and others are claiming speeds up to 50Mbits/sec sec. You'll need a new cable modem (Motorola SB6120 and SBV6220), and some care in selecting your router for thruput performance.