802.11n Spec Still In The Air

Vitaly Friedman writes "Standards for the hotly anticipated Wi-Fi successor haven't yet been agreed upon. Where's that leave all those early-bird products? 802.11n is a highly anticipated successor to today's Wi-Fi, promising a huge performance boost. The draft spec promises to deliver data rates up to 180 Mbps, which could make wired home networks unnecessary and should allow high-definition wireless video streaming. At issue is whether the draft spec is far enough along that companies can make products that will provide that performance but still be compatible with each other and with older Wi-Fi equipment."

Comments

so basically what they're doing is

[Tezkah]

putting the cart (the product, in this case the routers) before the horse (standards).

nothing could possibly go wrong!

It's a start, but I'm still waiting.

[Trifthen]

Can we please, PLEASE make the next spec. avoid the overcrowded 2.4Ghz range? Every time I use my microwave, my connection becomes unusable.

802.11 cannot replace home networks

[MobyDisk]

0xA reasons 802.11N is not likely replace home networks any time soon.

1) 180Mbps is the theoretical throughput if the devices are right next to each other.
2) Even then, you STILL won't get that speed. A typical cat 5 cable and switch will give you 99.9% of the theoretical max.
3) The latency is higher (gaming)
4) It's harder to configure.
5) It's less secure.
6) It's constantly changing.
7) It is expensive.
8) Linux drivers are hard to find.
9) ISPs won't support it.

Please reply to continue the list. There has to be at least one more.

Re:802.11 cannot replace home networks

[lelitsch]

Some thoughts on your ten points

1) 180Mbps is the theoretical throughput if the devices are right next to each other.

Probably not for the ultrageeks, but full motion DVD streams at up to 10.08 Mbps. So for most home users 180Mbps with all kinds of degradation will still allow them to run stuff at speeds where other parts (last mile,...) will be the bottleneck, not the wireless network.

2) Even then, you STILL won't get that speed. A typical cat 5 cable and switch will give you 99.9% of the theoretical max.

You might blow a few hundred exabyte over your network, 99.9% of people won't

3) The latency is higher (gaming)

If you are playing an MMOG, the latency of your home network pales against the latency outside your house, even if you hook directly into L3 networks.

4) It's harder to configure.

Really? That's a UI problem. I find it easier to configure my wireless than crawl back into the closet I use as a server room.

5) It's less secure.

But properly configured, it is more secure than most people need. And the NSA can listen to your wired network.--Which is why a lot of high security instalaltions use fibre optics.

6) It's constantly changing.

Oh, and wired networks aren't? God, I am old enough to remember CAT-10 10MB, 100MB, Gigabit. All of them needed new routers and occasionally new cables.

7) It is expensive.

How is a $29-100 WiFi router more expensive than a wired one plus a few hundred yards or cable plus ripping open the walls to put in cable conduits? You might not mind blue wires running all over the place, I certainly do.

8) Linux drivers are hard to find.

Ok, but that's on Linux developers. Also, 95% of to population are not running Linux on their home network.

9) ISPs won't support it.
What does the ISP have to do with it? They see my router--what happend after that is my business.

probably not enough for real hidef video

[Surt]

It'll be close. You might get enough bandwidth out of this for hidef video ... 1080p/60 prefers 135MBps to look good. Given a max of 180MBps, the likelihood that you'll deliver that kind of bit rate over any distance is not good. Lower res formats will probably be fine, but the so called 'true hi def' won't. I guess we'll all still wire up gigabit networking or wait for the next generation wireless networks for our ultra cool hi def wireless entertainment.

Leaky microwave ovens... cancer...

[Anonymous Coward]

You need a new microwave. Your microwave should not be letting the waves out of the cooking chamber. You will have cancer in a few years.

*ALL* microwave ovens leak some RF whenever they are running. The only practical way to stop them from completely leaking RF is to unplug them.

They also typically run at 2450MHz +/- some margin of error and full of harmonics too. They are nasty, very high power 2.4GHz transmitters radiating several hundreds of watts of pure EM crapwaves. Your 802.11b/g toys are transmitting maybe a tenth of a watt, and have very sensitive receivers in order to get useable range from such miniscule transmit power levels.

The whole 2.4GHz band is the garbage pit of the microwave RF spectrum. I find it totally incredulous to see so many companies trying to sell 2.4GHz wireless networking products as viable, reliable business-grade equipment. It's not. It never will be. It's a farce. The 2.4GHz spectrum is for toys, not tools, and everyone who tries to rely upon it for any mission-critical business is a fool. The fact that most 2.4GHz equipment works as well as it does is more by accident than intentional design. The networking portions and RF modulation/frequency-hopping techniques are great technologies, but the 2.4GHz RF band is a killing showstopper (5.8GHz isn't too far behind in the downhill plunge to the bottom of the septic tank either). When the day comes that some other chunk of the spectrum (preferably somewhere in the 900-1000MHz range) gets set aside for unlicensed wireless networking only, and abso-freakin-lutely no other devices are permitted to operate there, then you'll begin to see wireless network gear that can actually deliver robust performance and reliability too.

PS: Regarding your cancer concern... literally everyone will get at least some small amount of some form of cancer in their bodies over time regardless of environment or diet.... unless they die young of something else first.