Pre-802.11n Offers 4x the Speed

An anonymous reader writes "Belkin said on Monday that they'll be releasing a wireless network card and router that uses pre-802.11n multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology created by Airgo Networks. Belkin said the new pre-n products will provide four times faster speed and coverage area than 802.11b and g products. The new products will also be compatible with older products and in fact will increase performance on those older products."

Comments

Great

[myz24]

I just upgraded to g!

Re:Great

[JeffTL]

That's okay -- Even B is faster than the Internet usually is. Main advantage of faster networks is for internal business

Multiple signals?

[Davak]

Anybody know if the increase number of signals increases the amount of interference?

Re:Multiple signals?

[hawkbug]

I don't know about the amount of interferance, but I'm sure the amount of cancer being caused by these things will increase expontentially ;)

Re:Multiple signals?

[rmayes100]

Buy a 900MHz phone if you can still find one, they're cheap and work fine.

Re:Multiple signals?

[shawn_f]

http://www.nwfusion.com/news/tech/2004/072604techu pdate.html

I think this may answer, not only your question, but a lot of others here on MIMO...seems to be pretty cool technology. More antennas, though, generally mean more power consumption...

Re:Multiple signals?

[ductormalef]

You are buying the wrong phones then. There is nothing magical about the frequency that makes 2.4 and 5GHz phones better.

Get yourself a nice DSSS 900MHz phone and you'll get every bit of the audio *quality that the more expensive 2.4 and 5GHz phones have.

*Telephone signals can hardly be referred to as quality audio :)

Re:Multiple signals?

[NanoGator]

"I have a metal plate in my head. Every time I use the microwave, I piss my pants and forget my name."

I sing folk songs.

So?

[Anonymous Coward]

What I'd prefer to see is a smaller boost in "speed" (I'm guessing that the speed "increase" is in bursts, not sustained) and increased security that doesn't cause a hit in terms of network performance.

Re:So?

[ron_ivi]

I'd rather see "more coverage area". I can barely get my home-wireless-network from the coffee shop at the end of the block; and prettymuch everyone there (except those I'm sharing it with) is pretty jealous.

Security can be handled on the end-systems (install SP2 :), iptables, etc).

Range isn't so easy in real-world (obstructed) environments.

new pre-n products

[router_ninja]

Pre-standard? I'll wait thanks. Especially with the history of this company.

Re:new pre-n products

[Gr8Apes]

Heck, I've got a virtually unusable Belkin 54g router sitting at home (well, at least until I flash its firmware with sveasoft or the like)

The damn thing won't hold a configuration for crap, reboots like a windows machine, and otherwise is about the most unpleasant networking product I've owned since the 3Com 503 (I think that was the model #, might have been 501). Fortunately I had a cheap netgear 54g router on the shelf, plugged it in and all was well, except for sustained connectivity. Seems there's lots of interference in my neighborhood (about 12 networks show up, maybe I should just use one of them? :)

Maybe It Means Something

[shadowcabbit]

OK, so we have 802.11b, 802.11n, and 802.11g. Is there an 802.11o? Because that would be interesting, seeing a wireless router advertise itself as being "802.11b/o/n/g Compatible!"

Oh, and I would have titled this "First Pot", but that would just be low-class.

Re:Maybe It Means Something

[GuidoZ]

There really should be an 802.11o, seeing as once 802.11i comes out, we can finally finish 802.11bingo!

And move on to 802.11yahtzee

Re:Maybe It Means Something

[MarsDefenseMinister]

Nah, this makes it easier to talk to your bong even when you aren't high.

wireless vs wire

[Davak]

Reliability rivaling that of wired connections and effortless connectivity at real-world distances is why Belkin's True MIMO products have ushered in a new era in wireless."

When I can wirelessly play my PS2 and download torrents at the same time, I'll be in heaven. As much as I love wireless, I think we are far from the reliability and connectivity of a hard wire.

Re:wireless vs wire

[peculiarmethod]

yup, I agree. I live under a flight path in san diego.. 2 miles outside of downtown, and 8 miles from the airport. Every 15 mins or so, abotu every 5th airplane, they are either low enough, or a specific type of airplane broadcasting signals strong enough to interfer with my wireless network. It only take 20-45 secs to re-establish the connection.. but you must agree this is not acceptable for some routines online, and obviously does not happen with hard wire.

pm

Wireless-G

[Klar]

For me, 802.11G is by fast enough by far for my uses. B is good enough for web traffic. Hopefully this introduction of new A, and now N configerations will lower prices more for the G routers making it even easier to find access points. *crosses fingers for easier wardriving*

Contradiction?

[balaam's ass]

The article contains this statement:
"True MIMO is one of the underlying technologies being considered for 802.11n, a standard in the works for the next generation of Wi-Fi technology. " ...and then it has this quote from Greg Raleigh:
"The immediate performance benefits realized with True MIMO, especially over expanded coverage areas, are why this technology has been chosen to power the upcoming 802.11n high-performance wireless standard. "

Has "True MIMO" already "been chosen" to power 802.11n, or is merely "being considered"?

Re:Contradiction?

[Doug Dante]

Has "True MIMO" already "been chosen" to power 802.11n, or is merely "being considered"?

According to this Intel Whitepaper both MIMO and an increase in channel widths from 20MHz to 40MHz will both be required to meet the 100Mbps performance goals of 802.11n. (See Figure 2)

So, it's merely being considered, but it's also pretty much a given for 802.11n.

n>[bg]

[4of12]

Belkin said the new pre-n products will provide four times faster speed and coverage area than 802.11b and g products.

Faster!?

More coverage area!?

Then, how much power does it typically take to run an 802.11n card compared to the established alternatives?

And why would I buy from Belkin?

[Saint Aardvark]

This is the same company that lost my trust by screwing their customers. They've done nothing since to earn that trust back. (And no, removing their stupid adware, when it shouldn't have been there in the first place, doesn't count toward earning my trust back.)

Math?

[RAMMS EIN]

4 times faster than b and g? How do they do that, given that g is 5 times faster than b? Hopefully they don't reduce the speeds of them all to 0...

Re:Math?

[Biff78]

Um sounds like your math needs a little work too. If b and g speeds were 0, 4x0=0. They would all be the same speed, and n would not be 4 times faster than either b or g. However, since both b and g have approximately the same range g's speed will decrease faster with distance from the antenna as both approach zero speed. At some point prior to 0 speed there will be a given distance for g and a given distance for b where speeds will be equal. In turn, at some given distance from the antenna for n there will be a speed that is 4 times faster than both b and g at the same time. ....But I don't think that's what they had in mind.

ah, let the consumer trickery begin

[SuperBanana]

The new products will also be compatible with older products and in fact will increase performance on those older products

Yup, but the box will say "4X FASTER! Also speeds up 802.11b and g networks!" Consumers will think, "hey, it'll speed up my 802.11b network by 4x! Yeah!"

Corporations need to learn to write clear, concise blurbs for their packaging, so customers don't feel ripped off or mislead (and never buy their products again as a result).

Re:ah, let the consumer trickery begin

[sglane81]

Corporations need to learn to write clear, concise blurbs for their packaging, so customers don't feel ripped off or mislead (and never buy their products again as a result).

They choose not to write clear for marketing purposes. The whole point is to sell more products to people who don't understand the technology. They are only bound by laws of truth in advertising (hmm... <insert witty statement here>). Basically, they can't lie about the product. They can mislead (even intentionally), but not lie.

Wow!

[dhoonlee]

How many pringles cans does this come with?

question...

[WormholeFiend]

what are they going to do when they run out of letters after 802.11z?

Re:question...

[JudgeFurious]

"802.11z Jaguar"
"802.11z Panther"
"802.11z Tiger"
"802.11z ....."

Until there are no more cool cat names. After that they're pretty well buggered.

Article Text

[Anonymous Coward]

Wi-Fi Gets Speed Boost with Pre-802.11n Products
Posted: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:38:03 GMT
Author: Matt Cameron

Belkin said on Monday that they'll be releasing a wireless network card and router that uses pre-802.11n multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology created by Airgo Networks. Belkin said the new pre-n products will provide four times faster speed and coverage area than 802.11b and g products. The new products will also be compatible with older products and in fact will increase performance on those older products.

"Our research shows that, with current wireless technology, people are experiencing poor coverage and performance at farther distances in their homes due to interference from other wireless networks, cordless phones, and other appliances," explains Eric Tong, VP Marketing and Product Development. "Our Pre-N products with True MIMO will empower users by providing a wireless network that makes poor coverage issues a thing of the past."

Belkin utilizes True MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) from Airgo Networks in its Pre-N products. True MIMO is the first technology to address the issues of coverage, speed, and interference in larger homes and offices.

True MIMO is a smart-antenna technique that uses multiple antennas to transmit and receive wireless signals. It reaches a step further than other smart-antenna technologies by transmitting multiple signals on each antenna. As a result, Belkin's Pre-N products with True MIMO technology create a robust wireless connection while providing a larger coverage area with the bandwidth and quality of service needed to run advanced applications, such as streaming video or Voice over IP (VoIP).

True MIMO is one of the underlying technologies being considered for 802.11n, a standard in the works for the next generation of Wi-Fi technology.

"True MIMO is a breakthrough technology that fundamentally changes the way radio waves are sent and received. More importantly, True MIMO changes the way consumers are able to use wireless products," says Greg Raleigh, Chief Executive and President of Airgo Networks. "The immediate performance benefits realized with True MIMO, especially over expanded coverage areas, are why this technology has been chosen to power the upcoming 802.11n high-performance wireless standard. Reliability rivaling that of wired connections and effortless connectivity at real-world distances is why Belkin's True MIMO products have ushered in a new era in wireless."

must have more speed

[frovingslosh]

Unfortunately, I know way too many people who paid a lot extra to get 802.11g than 802.11b - but only use it to surf the Internet. The truth is that even the 802.11b connection is faster than high speed brodband to the home, so there is no real gain in using 802.11g. I even saw (in a previous /. forum) someone who was plannig on opening a "Internet cafe" and was thinking he should go for 802.11g, not understanding that no user would exceed the 802.11b speed and not even realizing that the entire network would downgrade to 802.11b anyway if even one user was connected through 802.11b equipment.

Now, it seems, people are going to be rushing to these new "standards". Sure, if you're going to be transfering a lot of large files around your internal network, perhaps while you stream real time video to your "entertainment center", then you might justify the extra cost and being on the bleeding edge; but most users just think in terms of "I want the newer faster stuff" or simply "I want the good stuff" and they will end up paying a lot more now for the technology they never use than they would if they just waited until the standrds were worked out, the products came down in price, and the connection to the rest of the Internet caught up in speed to justify the choice.

Re:must have more speed

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Isn't Verizon doing FTTP with up to 30mbit speeds available? Some people have cable speeds of 6mbit downlink, which is a bit more than what "b" can provide in useable bitrate.

It isn't prohibitively costlier to go with "g". It is like, 4x faster for only 10$ per component? If you must scrape every dollar, then $10 savings is important, but I'd think for the long term, it is worth while.

Re:must have more speed

[bogie]

Just some quick points. While 802.11b is faster than most people's high speed connection that's not true for all. Cable Providers like Optimum Online( a decent size provider in the NJ/NY area) and others give about 10Mb and sometime higher connections. My Orinoco gold card tops out at like 440KB a sec which didn't come near my Internet top speed. So that's not really true in all cases. Secondly if you like many people do have a home network 802.11g makes a huge difference. Transferring large files via 802.11b is painful to say the least.

Should people preorder this from Belkin? I think not just yet. But for anyone on a home network or lucky enough to live where they give out fast net connection 802.11g is well worth the investment. You did specifially say "but only use it to surf the Internet." so in that case your are pretty much right on I just wanted to point out a few reasons why 802.11g isn't so bad an idea.

complex, doable, but who needs it?

[puzzled]

Who really needs 100 mbit in their home? I can see some corporation in a union bound town like St. Louis wanting to replace current wired LAN deploy costs with simple wireless gear, but the 802.11b device I've connected through to write this provides 5x the speed I need in a worst case scenario ... I guess I'm just a text interface BSD Luddite ...

Re:complex, doable, but who needs it?

[gl4ss]

who needs it?

anyone who moves files larger than couple of ten megs(like moving a gig of raw pictures from computer to computer). doing that you'll start lusting after 1gbit real quick..

Re:complex, doable, but who needs it?

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

Anyone with more than 3 computers. Anyone that wants true security. It never ceases to amaze me that after suffering through non-switched ethernet for years (decades?) people are ready to go back to a medium which is broadcast. When you use wireless (as I am, even now) you're using a single "cable" for everyone. One 100mps switched cable exceeds wireless by a factor of 9.... but the second switched 100mps cable does that again!

Think of it this way, with only a little cable-pulling effort in your home (an investment) you are adding oodles of bandwidth. And if you need more, pull more cable. But you're only (generally) going to get 1 virtual 11mps "cable". Once you use that all up, its gone. So, when your wireless MP3 stereo component, and the 2 tivos, 2 game consoles, your computer, your wife's computer, your children's computer are all on wireless, not to mention the laptop and the ipaq, and you newly installed VoIP phones are all one wireless... you'll be wondering why you ever thought it so great.

My own rule of thumb: Use wireless sparingly, like the limited resource it is.

4x the coverage = 1/2 the wardriving!

[Jtheletter]

Woohoo! Finally, now I don't have to sit in my car in front of my neighbor's house, I can just leech their connexon from my living room!

Clarity for 802.11 TgN

[Zabu]

Task Group N is still in the mix.
TgN's point of focus is to offer better wireless service. It will operate in the frequency range 5.18 Ghz and 5.32 Ghz. The current frequency range that all 802.11a products use. I think the plan is to use the OFDM rates of .11a with 802.11e (QoS). Using MIMO on all stations, with DLP (802.11e) would in fact allow stations to communicate through eachother, instead of the access point. Relaying signals on multiple frequencies through stations would give better coverage, and with DLP essentially cutting all station-2-station traffic in half would free up the medium (their idea of faster?). Either way it is still not going to be around for a while.

Re:n[bg]

[Zabu]

802.11 n will use 802.11e (Qos) which introduces Direct Link Protocol (DLP). This allows station to station transfer. Currently in infrastucture mode you can only communicate with the access point, when MIMO and DLP are implemented together, you can essentially chain wireless stations by using them as repeaters.

Re:n[bg]

[uss_valiant]

Not sure if 802.11n uses V-BLAST or some other space-time code, but the nature of V-BLAST, a MIMO scheme, is that the more signal scattering/mutlipaths you have, the better. Signal power is usually splitted on all antennas, the total power isn't more than when using a single antenna. Using the multipath environment with different signal transmitting times you can transmit mutliple signals in the same time frame on the same frequency!

From the Bell Labs Homepage:

The central paradigm behind BLAST is the exploitation, rather than the mitigation, of multipath effects in order to achieve very high spectral efficiencies (bits/sec/Hz), significantly higher than are possible when multipath is viewed as an adversary rather than an ally.

BLAST: Bell Labs Layered Space-Time
BLAST High-Level Overview

4x what?

[Doc Ruby]

"4x the speed" of what? 802.11b's 11Mbps? b+ 22Mbps? a/a+ 55/110Mbps? An unladen african swallow?

C'mon people, where is that joke?

[MonkeyCookie]

I was absolutely certain when I clicked on the comments link that I would immediately see a joke involving downloading 4x the porn over someone else's wireless connection.

I didn't know what else I'd find in the comments, but knowing Slashdot, that joke should have been an absolute certainty.

How disappointing