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Belkin Offering Pre-802.11N Products
redshield3 writes "Belkin is offering what it is calling "pre-802.11n" products for mass consumers now. CompUSA is reportedly carrying these items in stores. They claim 800% range improvement over 802.11g as well as full backwards compatibility and the ability to continue pushing out n-speeds when a 802.11g or 802.11b device is introduced to the network."
Surely that makes it 802.11M?
however wifi range is a constant headache for me
I saw one of these on the shelf the other day. The price wasn't much higher than for 802.11g options.... my biggest question would be whether a firmware upgrade would necessarily be able to bring these into full 802.11n compatibility once the standard is ratified?
It would suck to end up locked into a dead-end solution like that, but if it can be patched to become standard.... I might think about trying it out.
This is not new news, they were advertising them in november.
So what is the real-world speed of these rated-108mbps devices? Half? Third? Anyone tested one yet?
-m
http://www.invisik.com
Are they using real "n" technology? Or is it just their particular flavor of "n"?
I've had bad luck in the past with pre-standard equipment, but this one sounds pretty good. It seems to only be missing one of the features of the n standard. I thought N had essentially "wireless switching", in that the wireless bandwidth was not divided when multiple connections were established. If everything else lives up to their hype, this could be a good stop gap solution until the standard equipment comes out 3rd quater this year.
Saying "I'll probably get modded down for this", is a magnet for my -1 mod token. I hate to disappoint.
Because the 802.11n spec isn't finalized, therefore it isn't 802.11n compliant?
...another wireless standard significantly harmed by not-quite interoperable implimentations produced by ass-hat vendors.
Beep beep.
But can they run Linux? http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=3 3&scid=35&prid=601
Because 802.11n is not ratified yet, and will almost definitely change from the draft it is now. What Belkin has done was intergrate some of the proposed improvements that we can expect. However, they may not be in final form, so if the draft changes much, the products will no longer be compatable. This may be as easy to fix as a firmware update or driver download, or it may leave you with a bunch of equiptment that is not compatable with anything else. Also, I am not sure of this, but if 802.11n is already considered a standard, even an unratified one, then Belkin could get sued for using the name if their products do no conform to the final standard.
There are a plethora of articles out there right now describing the chance you take buying "pre-N" wireless gear. Since there is no N standard yet, none of these companies can claim with any certainty thier product will be N compatable. If you buy one of these products, go in expecting that it won't work with true N when the spec is actually released.
Because all the intervening letters are taken up by other protocols, or proposed protocols, not just wireless speeds.
For example, 802.11i is an enhanced security protocol, 802.11x is also security related. There's a bunch more.
Some of the letters are explained here. Still lots of gaps, but they likely fall under the 'proposed protocol, noone's bothered implementing it yet' category.
What will happen when we get to 802.11z?
Just like IPv5, a lot of proposed standards get shelved for all kinds of reasons. Even though 802.11h never made it to production, the proposal still exists somewhere and naming something else 802.11h would be very confusing to the people involved. Usually we have catchy marketing terms insulating consumers from the technical versioning, but not in this case.
After 802.11z comes 802.11aa. Other parts of the 802 standard go into the double letters.
-B
Linksys WRT54GX: http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?prid=6 70&scid=35 is a unofficial pre-N router.
Anyone want to take a guess why 802.11n takes 3 antenna and 802.11g has two or one?
"Those who would sacrifice an essential liberty, for security, will get, and deserve nether." - Benjamin Franklin
We went through this with 56K modem and 802.11g standards. A vendor's marketing department tries to get the jump on everyone else by introducing equipment that is "pre-standard". People buy them to get the latest whiz-bang capability and either don't care about the consequences or are too clueless to understand them. If the approved standard turns out to be what the equipment uses then the company is home free with an existing market share. If not then marketing beats on engineering to put together a minimum cost (to the company) upgrade path. If there is no practical upgrade path then the customer is left with a doorstop and no recourse because the unread fine print says compatibility is not guaranteed. Either way the company profits by being first out of the gate.
When 802.11n is ratified possibly as late as Nov. 2006, it will likely include speeds at least twice as high as the Belkin product. There are a few different MIMO proposals under consideration, and they will likely be merged with faster speeds and options as optional and a lower speed and tech as mandatory.
But the problem with Belkin and other MIMO solutions is that even if they turn out to be fully 802.11n compatible, they won't do the highest possible speeds. Those highest speeds will likely not cost any more (and maybe less) than the pre-N/MIMO stuff costs today.
So EVEN if you'll be able to upgrade MIMO now to 802.11n in 2006--and that's a huge if and no companies are promising this even in the slighest--you won't get the real speed bump that 802.11n promises.
If you don't need 50 to 70 Mbps of real throughput on your network today, stick with cheap, interoperable 802.11g.
Freelance tech journalist for the Economist, MIT Technology Review, Macworld, and others
NetGear or Linksys already made Pre-802.11N equipment.
I hope that Linksys will give free firmware updates being how good they are right now.
Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Bugs are good for building character in the user.
Remember, this is the same Belkin which randomly tried to sell you Censorware.
My niece was visiting, and for whatever stupid reason, her middle school requires everyone have a laptop. (Insert rant about kids and computers here; apparently, using IM to chat about cute boyz is a new class they didn't have when I was in school. But I digreess.)
I like to offer my net connection to guests so they can chat on vacation. So I point her to the nearest wall socket and ask if she needs a cable.
"No, I'm just using the wireless connection. There's like 2 or 3 of them."
Of course, at the time, I didn't have a wireless connection. But a few of my neighbors do: LINKSYS, LINKSYS, and, uh, LINKSYS.
So, I'm all for more range. More free net access! And, this means I don't have to let anyone's spyware-ridden box on my home network when they visit.
I can explanate how to administrate your network. You must configurate and segmentate it, so it can computate.
Anyone else disturbed by the fact that people are referred to as "consumers"?
We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
How many read this and said, WOW, I can go a km instead of this lousy 125m range I've got now?
Visiting the parent referenced product description we learn that the statement, "They claim 800% range improvement over 802.11g" is
UNTRUE!
What they claim is 800% coverage improvement over 802.11g.
The most gross correction comes if you note:
The volume, or coverage, in which the thing will operate may be 800% greater, but volume goes as a cube of length (distance, range, radius, depending on contextual semantics). So your 800% coverage improvement translates to a 200% range increase.
Add to this the myriad of devilish details which arise in any product comparison and the real world reange increase may be well less than times two.
Now I'm the grandest Tiger in the Jungle!
Remember, these are the guys who tried to sell you deliberately non-working kit.
I don't buy from Belkin. I hope you choose not to, too.
Does anyone know if any of the 802.11n products have non-ndiswrapper drivers?
Last I was reading of pre-N stuff (a co worker was interested in it) they haven't even settled what frequencies N will use, or how wide the signal will be, these are some pretty big changes that could be made.
I predict Apple Airport Ntense. Get it?
That was lame. Shoot me.
TO START
PRESS ANY KEY
Where's the 'ANY' key? I see Esk, Kitarl, and Pig-Up...
The WRT54GX uses the same chips if you'd rather buy from Linksys than Belkin.
I got one of their Pre-N routers last week, and I like it quite a bit. The range is awesome, the web-based intergace is great, and the WAN port has a programmable MAC address. I'm enjoying my new router quite a bit.
This space for rent...
The Wi-Fi Alliance issued a press release last October ("Wi-Fi Alliance Will Not Certify Pre-Standard 802.11n Features") that says some pre-standard 802.11g products did not meet the final standard. I guess the earliest adapters got burned.
Other highlights from the press release:
- The Wi-Fi Alliance will not certify 802.11n products until the standard is ratified.
- The 802.11n standard will be completed in approximately November 2006.
- "Pre-standard products always present an inherent risk for technology adopters"
- "Vendors took advantage of unsuspecting buyers when they touted pre-standard technology for 802.11g that later did not meet the standard. Left unchecked, the industry is unfortunately poised to repeat itself with 802.11n."
Does the Wi-Fi Alliance's opinion mean shiit anyhoo?TO START
PRESS ANY KEY
Where's the 'ANY' key? I see Esk, Kitarl, and Pig-Up...
The 802.11n standard will be completed in approximately November 2006.
If the standard won't be completed until November 2006, standards-compliance doesn't even become a factor for me.
I'm already pretty happy with my 802.11g gear, but if I were to go buy new stuff, I'd buy pre-N gear known to work together for my current systems. I can't really be bothered to worry about if the gear will be compatible with the "real stuff" almost 2 freakin' years from now... If the standard were right around the corner.. maybe.
Of course, YMMV, obviously I'm looking at this as a consumer and it doesn't apply for big 100+ computer enterprise networks, where you do have to worry about long term compatibility.
Heck, we were using pre 802.11N stuff back in the late 80s. It was so 'pre' it would only work reliably if you plugged the other ends of the antenna into other machines in your network.
JADBP
Its not a trademark, but an IEEE standard. To make a product labeled to support a standard that actually doesn't is false advertising, which is an offense.