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First 802.11n Products Breaking Out
capt turnpike writes "If you're hooked up to a fat pipe, but want mobility, it looks like the new 802.11n standard might have some promise. eWEEK.com got their hands on some of the upcoming products and put the new devices through their paces." From the article: "The 802.11n task group is aware of the current draft's issues with legacy wireless LAN devices (specifically with how 802.11n shares bandwidth with attached legacy clients), and representatives from Cisco and Motorola broke off to look into the issues before the next meeting of the draft subcommittee, which is scheduled for May. Expectations vary widely, depending on whom you talk to. In previous conversations with Dave Borison, Airgo's director of product marketing, we leaned that Airgo is not making chip sets based on the draft standard because the company thinks the issue of legacy interoperability is significant enough to necessitate small modifications to the silicon."
From the article:
We also found that Linksys' draft 802.11n router caused performance issues with legacy 802.11g networks.
AND:
The current draft of the 802.11n standard was approved for letter ballot in March; the full standard is expected to be ratified by the second quarter of 2007.
AND:
With this uncertainty in mind, it is not advisable to invest in these products lock, stock and barrel. Enterprise-grade WLAN manufacturers continue to wait for the standard to fully bake, and enterprise customers should do the same.
For the record, I think regardless if it's called pre-N or "draft 802.11n", it is still isn't the final product... so beware what you buy.
Funnypics
.... but maybe the prudent thing to do is wait and see how these new products behave in the real world. Early indications are that there are "issues" as described in the articles below:
, 39020348,39265307,00.html ?articleID=186700327
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/wireless/0
http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtm
http://wifinetnews.com/archives/006507.html
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
I realize I'll probably get modded down for suggesting this, but why don't you guys just set up a wired LAN? You all probably are plugging power cords in, so there's already a bit of a cable tangle. If you all plug into a wired network, you won't have nearly as many lag/interference problems.
This guy's the limit!
Actually the presence of 802.11b devices on a 802.11g network will slow the network down, just not all the way to b speed. See this table for example. As stated there, you seem to drop about a third of the speed, and noting the source [PDF], I'd assume that data is reliable.
Oh no... it's the future.
Did anyone notice that the numbers are not very impressive? The Asus Wireless G had 85% of the throughput of the Linksys WRT300N, and much better range degradation. I think that Linksyss claim of 4X the range and 12X the speed of other G class hardware falls flat on its face!
I wouldn't worry about it so much. Most SOHO manufactures D-Link, LinkSys, Netgear etc shipped products of 802.11G before it was ratified and they didn't run into any major hiccups as far as I know. It's pretty common for companies to push products before the standard has been ratified. No one is going to produce chips unless they are confident it will be safe when the standard is completely ratified. Often just a firmware update will complete the standard.