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."

Comments

Nice...

[chainrust]

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.

Higher frequencies are a beautiful thing...

[d.valued]

..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.

Re:Switching Over

[Wyatt Earp]

Apple won't go with 802.11a since 802.11g is on the way.

http://thinksecret.com/news/airportupdates.html

There is already support for people with 802.11b

[sweetooth]

It's in dual band devices such as this one from linksys http://www.linksys.com/Products/product.asp?grid=2 2&prid=452

Re:how about XP running third-party WLAN software.

[John Miles]

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.

the non US world

[johnjones]

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

Re:5 Ghz?

[d.valued]

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.

802.11a -- A personal heck.

[Umrick]

Our facility was 802.11a (using Intel APs). The amount of trouble we had was just this side of insurmountable. Fortunately, thanks to a manufacturing defect in the Intel APs, we got to send them back for replacement 802.11b units.

The real world:

• The shorter range means a much greater density of units in any facility of any size. Fourty feet is the normal range.
  
• If you have an older building with lots of brick/cement/steel, 802.11a will not penetrate nearly as well. Expect your range to drop to as little as 20 feet in a dense structure.
  
• Many of the currently available access points will not roam properly(Intel at least).
  
• There are no readily available antennas yet available for increasing range baring some nice directionals.
  
• Average throughput in our environment was 6Mbs due to roaming computer(Medical practice) problems. They would authenticate to one unit, but never roam until they lost all signal from the first.
  

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.

Re:how about XP running third-party WLAN software.

[mac123]

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

Re:The truth is buried in the article

[Brento]

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.

Just a note

[afidel]

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.