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802.11n Delayed to 2008

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the fine-tuning dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Looks like we have to wait some more for 802.11n and promised 100 Mbps speeds. IEEE has delayed ratification of the standard until 2008, yet again, due to continuing problems with interoperability and too many comments from chipset manufacturers and other interested parties. Analysts are telling firms not to deploy n until the new standard is ratified."

6 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Terrible idea... by evilviper · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Manufacturers aren't waiting... They've been rolling it out for quite a while now, and will surely continue to do so, standard or no.

    Delaying the standard for more than a year is only going to ensure that none of these systems will be interoperable, and certainly not forewards compatible.

    An imperfect (slightly less backwards-compatible) standard now, would be much better than a perfect standard in 2 years.

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    1. Re:Terrible idea... by gregmark · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Right. Like US Robotics waited to roll out a 56K modem until v.90 was finalized.

  2. who cares? by Gothmolly · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wireless is a convenience, in almost every case I've seen. Once you hit 11 Mb/s or double that at 22 Mb/s, what more do you need? How much bandwidth does reading email, surfing CNN, or running SSH require?

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  3. Re:honestly, folks by setirw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What do you think of gigabit ethernet, then? As with any networking protocl, 802.11x has more uses than merely connecting to the Internet.

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  4. Re:honestly, folks by owlstead · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the netherlands, you can get 22 Mb/s from certain cable internet providers (e.g. multikabel). That's a solid throughput of 2/3 MB/s. And even then you presume that WiFi can only be used for internet. Note that 11n is meant for home/office use. Maybe you could broaden your views a bit?

  5. Re:honestly, folks by MobyDisk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's right. 100base-T and gigabit ethernet are pointless. Why have a LAN that is faster than the internet?

    Is there some strange reason that Slashdotters think that the only use for wireless networks is browsing the Internet? None of you have ever used wireless to print, or copy a file off a server, or play a LAN game, or stream video, had more than one wireless device running?