What does "basic rates" and "other rates" mean when using `netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid`

When I run this command:

netsh wlan show networks mode=Bssid

I get this result:

Interface name : WiFi
There are 1 networks currently visible.

SSID 1 : *********
    Network type            : Infrastructure
    Authentication          : **********
    Encryption              : **********
    BSSID 1                 : **********
         Signal             : 93%
         Radio type         : 802.11n
         Channel            : 52
         Basic rates (Mbps) : 6 12 24
         Other rates (Mbps) : 9 18 36 48 54

I was wondering what does the Basic rates (Mbps) and Other rates (Mbps) mean?

I read this comparison table: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11n-2009#Comparison

And it seems that the numbers correspond to all stream data rates column for 802.11g row. Why is there a separation between basic rates and other rates? What is the significance of the numbers? What can I use this information for?

Solution

I'm not sure why there is a seperation, but here is the documentation for the WLAN_RATE_SET, which is probably the Wlan API structure netsh is trying to display here.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa370026(v=vs.85).aspx

A basic rate is the data transfer rate that all stations in a basic service set (BSS) can use to receive frames from the wireless medium

I would guess that is the first line you are seeing. As to what the "other" rate set is, I'm not sure.