[dragontamer]

Note that 802.11 (original) is specified with 50% error correction at MCS 1 aka 1 Mbit/second rate. That is, for 1000 bits transmitted, 500 were data, and 500 were error correction. (Plus all the error detection codes like CRC32 on top of that).

This is a good example of tradeoffs: slower and less throughput, but way more robustness.

Higher MCS levels of 802.11 cut down on error correction to 25% or 10%, achieving more throughput but less robustness.

I dunno how Zigbee does it, but I assume it has more error correction at slower (ie: more reliable) speeds than even WiFi MCS 1.