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The Coming Time for 802.11a?
abhikhurana writes "
This article on 80211-planet.com predicts a real boom in the market for 802.11a in the coming year. An excerpt from the article:
In tests in my SOHO LAN, I found that in real world conditions, 802.11a averaged four times faster than 802.11b. In addition, with its 5GHz frequency, 802.11a avoids the interference slow-downs that b must suffer with microwave ovens, high-end wireless phones, and other 802.11b networks.
Also makes an interesting read for knowing about the technologies which maybe driving the wireless bandwagon in the coming years."
Here is a nice comparison of B and A on 80211 planet. Also, a whitepaper for A is available at Proxim Communications. Also, don't forget the FAQ!
My personal feeling about this: The U.S. government should sponsor a 802.11a nationwide network, so we can all have cell phone and data access anywhere, and a provider can 'buy' an area from the government to charge wireless rates for. Kind of like the current system we have in place for land-line phones.
Everyone comes out happy:
the cell phone company has a local monopoly
the customer has access to wireless data and phone everywhere
the government 's pocket gets fatter.
If you don't know what Zoo Blacklisting is, click here.
..especially when you can use them to their fullest.
Other advantages of the 5 MHz frequency are that the same antenna you use for 2.4 can be used at almost double gain (as long as you're careful), since the wavelength is almost half as long you can use the same antenna. The thoroughput kills 11b by a factor of 5 to 1 at max.
Disadvantages... At 5 MHz, walls are a factor. Objects start to interefere more. So on a campsite, 11a will be amazing. In an office, you'll need repeaters. Hardware costs more right now, on par with what 11b cost at first.. then again, you can get 11b cards right now for under $50.. even Orinocos for under $60.
I used to be someone else. Now I'm someone better.
Real life is underrated.
Apple won't go with 802.11a since 802.11g is on the way.
http://thinksecret.com/news/airportupdates.html
It's in dual band devices such as this one from linksys http://www.linksys.com/Products/product.asp?grid=2 2&prid=452
I don't know anything about XP's WLAN support (Windows XP is the first MS product that crosses my personal threshold of big-brother toleration, so I have no intention of upgrading beyond Win2K until absolutely forced to). But those DLink cards are garbage.
Snag a couple of Lucent Orinoco Silver cards on eBay -- they go for a song these days -- and plug them into the DLink PCI carriers you're already using. You'll instantly see a 50% or more improvement in effective working range.
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.
I belive that you cant legally run 802.11a in the UK or europe
intel had to get a licence for London Fashion Week where they did video streaming of differant shows
not sure about china or taiwan anyone know
regards
John Jones
Here's an exercise which should help clear this up.
Name everything you can think of that interferes with 2.4 GHz band.
Here goes... Wireless phones, microwave ovens, satellite TV, wireless broadband, medical equipment, cell phones.. There's a huge list because the frequency mixes high enough bandwidth and fairly good range at low power.
Now, let's try 5 GHz.
Short list, huh.
Not much is there yet because there's the wall problem. With computers and the 11a ability to down-negotiate bandwidth, it can be tolerated and handled. Not much else can do that.
I used to be someone else. Now I'm someone better.
Real life is underrated.
The real world:
That said, a small office or home that can be covered by a single unit should work acceptably. I would wait for 802.11g before installing a large number of units based on 802.11a, especially for any core business use.
Methinks you are configuring things wrong on your system or on your WAP
XP doesn't forbid the use of 3rd party WLAN configuration software (I am running Orinoco's Client Manager).
It also doesn't require an encryption key. I turn mine off once in a while to allow others easy access.
Works with no encryption, 64 bit or 128. XP controls none of this...the WAP does
They do, linksys just put out the WAP51AB. To bad it goes for $300 though. Just came out so the price should drop
Is there any introductory reads about all the different 802.11's? it seems that we now have a b c d e f g.
Google and ye shall receive.
What's your damage, Heather?
I own two D-Link DWL-650 cards. The range was never all that great (even in Linux). I assumed it was the fact that I was communicating card-to-card.
Things became much better when I started using a proper AP.
Later on, I needed a WLAN card for my desktop. After a BAD runin with a D-Link DWL-520 that I promptly returned, I tried a Orinoco and PCI carrier. The PCI adapter didn't work to well on my desktop. (Fine under Linux, useless in Windows) I returned the PCI adapter, but because the Orinoco had seemed to give slightly better performance and was supported by Netstumbler, I kept it.
A few weeks later I pulled out the D-Link once again for comparison - At that point I realized just how bad it was.
Side-by-side in the same place, the Orinoco blew away the D-Link. Orinoco reports a "good" signal strength upstairs. The D-Link barely gets signal. Downstairs, the D-Link reports low signal strength IN THE SAME ROOM AS THE AP! The Orinoco is pegged at full strength in this case.
I'm sticking with Orinocos from now on...
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
no. The setup is the same as it was before. No changes other than moving to XP.
The DLink cards may be below par but they work for the setup that we have here. The only reason for the problems is XP.
It doesn't FORBID the use of third-party software no, but it is built in and wants you to use that instead (causing WLAN manuf's to tell you to use XP instead of their product).
I just tested it before posting this. On a Win2k machine the network stays up at 11mbs w/o a hitch.
On the XP machine it stays under 5.5mbs and every 5 to 10 mins I have to RESCAN the network for it to find the connection.
Everytime I open the XP tray icon for the WLAN connection it yells at me telling me that I do NOT have an encryption key set and it sits there blinking on the prompt. I click for it to not use the key and click Apply, Ok, and when I open it again, alas it is back.
XP is forcing me to do two things I don't want to do. I don't like it. I don't like the fact that MS is dummying even WLAN setup down.
The DLink software worked fine (it still works fine on the Win98 clients). I don't see why MS had to include it's own happy horseshit and degrade my connection.
If your microwave is interfering with ANY 2.4Ghz product then REPLACE IT ASAP. A microwave in good operating condition should not leak any 2.4Ghz radiation as the entire chamber should be properly sealed and the screen on the front of the microwave should keep the radiation in. Some people freak about cell phones and wlan devices, but the max power output of an 802.11b radio is 100mw for a client card, while a microwave over has radiated power in the hundreds of watts.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
The 11a protocol doesn't necessarily help the cell/wireless phone people. Their phones can operate in low tolerance conditions (after all, the human voice operates in 4000 Hz of spectrum, tops).
The FCC rules solely dictate the following:
1. The frequencies that are available for unrestricted use;
2. The maximum peak power that you can put out onto thsoe frequencies;
3. These unlicensed devices must not created and must accept harmful interference.
The 802.11a specification merely defines the radio frequencies used, the format of the transmission, and the procedures for downgrading and upgrading the given bandwidth.
Besides that, protocol development is expensive and/or time-consuming (and really overkill for a damned phone), and the wall problem is inherent to the frequency and power requirements. The only ways around the wall problem are either breaking the FCC rules or spending lots of money on multiple base stations or on enhanced protocol development.
I used to be someone else. Now I'm someone better.
Real life is underrated.
China, Europe etc all have issues with Radar interference in the 5Ghz band. Only when the military people in each of the various markets sign on will there be widespread 802.11a penetration. The technology is there, no question about it, it's the regulatory issue that is the holdup. Lobby your govt in the respective countries to get it approved. Until then, volume manufacturing will always favor 802.11b/g for now.
"Quick fix will let one avoid interfering with the other"