The 802.11n draft drama continues. Netgear is pressing forward, releasing a WiFi ADSL modem based on the non ratified draft 802.11n spec. USR on the other had has decided to hold off on thier pre-n offerings until later in the year when the standard should be more or less ratified. Which one will gain and… Continue Reading
Category Archives: 802.11n
802.11n Standard Fails To Gain IEEE Approval
With the draft of 802.11n back on the drawing board, vendors who jumped the gun and produced so called ‘pre-n’ gear are now faced with the difficult challenge of what to do if thier products are not sompatible with the final standard. It will now be interesting to see if the devices live up to… Continue Reading
Consumers Warned Off Pre-Standard 802.11n Purchases
Pre-standard Wi-Fi 802.11n products are entering the marketplace, but consumers are warned to beware before buying. While investment risks for home networking products run fairly low — about $150 or less — users should know that uncertified equipment may not be interoperable with upcoming certified components. Early tests report ‘draft N” performance as less than… Continue Reading
Wireless-N Could Stand For ‘Not Interoperable’
Interoperability is key to the newly-available Wireless-N products using 802.11n draft specifications. Since the standard they’re based on isn’t yet official, users shouldn’t be swayed by promises such as four times the range and 12 times the throughput of current 802.11g standard products. While products based on the final 802.11n standard may meet those speed… Continue Reading
First 802.11n Products Show Standard’s Promise
Linksys has joined the Pre-N crowd with the WRT300N. Performance is impressive, but there is still the question of future interoperability since the 802.11n standard has not been ratified. There are also some technical glitches to work out, such as the interference problem with older 802.11g gear. Early adopters should beware they are purchasing in… Continue Reading
Speed Limit On WiFi About To Get A Boost
WiFi-N devices, which perform up to 5 times faster than their standard version cousins WiFi-A, -B, and -G, boast speeds as high as 270 million bits per second. While real-world speeds will be lower by as much as half that, they’re still faster than current speeds of about 54 million bits per second. Consumers, however,… Continue Reading
11n Links ‘Will Hog WiFi Airspace’
Airspace, by its very definition, seems boundless, but apparently it’s not. Next-generation 802.11n WiFi links, in order to achieve top data rates, would be forced to hog already congested bandwidth channels or to “bond” two channels into one, a practice that is already illegal in Japan. Systems using the new standard would be faster even… Continue Reading
Netgear Jumpstarts 802.11n
Netgear has jumped on the ‘pre-n’ bandwagon and released their ‘NEXT’ line-up of products. Promising all the benefits of 802.11n technology now, rather than after the spec is ratified, is an attempt by Netgear to join Belkin and others in hedging their bets and hoping that their products will be upgradeable, or at least compatible… Continue Reading
Business Users Are Wary Of 802.11n
With the draft of 802.11n fresh off the presses, questions are already popping up about the usefulness of the technology, particularly in large, multi-AP environments like University campuses. There also seem to be some questions about the effects of 802.11n networks on existing b/g/a networks as wider 40Mhz channels might interfere with existing systems. Despite… Continue Reading
802.11n: It’s Never Easy
The average consumer wants to have fast, easy to use wireless and they don’t want to be stuck with one manufacturer. They want to be able to have the same speed and ease of use on any wireless devices. This is the whole point of the 802.11 specifications, interoperability and reliability are key to standards… Continue Reading
D-Link Switches Focus To 802.11n
Networking vendor D-Link has announced plans to switch its development focus to the recently approved draft 802.11n technology, which it expects to become ratified as a wireless standard in 2007. Via [vnunet.com]… Continue Reading
Will 802.11n Change Your World?
Last Thursday, the IEEE announced that the 802.11n Task Group (TGn) had approved a draft of what may be the most significant new standard to come out of IEEE in the past 10 years. Based largely on a specification developed by the Enhanced Wireless Consortium (EWC), an association of leading network silicon developers, the proposal,… Continue Reading
Gartner Urges 802.11n Wi-Fi Restraint
Companies should stay away from next-generation Wi-Fi equipment described as 802.11n compliant, Gartner has warned. Via [vnunet.com]… Continue Reading
Wi-Fi Specs Approach 100Mbit/s
A first draft of the 802.11n wireless LAN (WLAN) standard was unanimously approved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) last week. The approval could prompt vendors to ship compliant equipment in mid-2006, though the final specification will not be ratified for another year. Via [vnunet.com]… Continue Reading
802.11n Likely To Be Delayed Even More
The 802.11n Draft 1.0 — the most recent version of next-generation wireless technology — garnered 12,000 comments from the standards-setting group IEEE according to a WNN report. To be ratified, the draft spec must be approved by 75 percent of the voting membership, and the high volume of comments indicates that a finalized version of… Continue Reading