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ASUS Guarantees Draft-N Upgradability
Glenn Fleishman writes, "One of the most irritating things about draft-n wireless gear being released this year is that there have been no guarantees from any chipmaker or manufacturer that today's devices — loosely based on the IEEE 802.11n Draft 1.0 — will be upgradeable through firmware to the final standard. Several computer makers now bake draft-n adapters into their laptops as an option, which is even more troublesome. Today ASUS, which uses the Broadcom chipset, said that they will swap out hardware if necessary for any draft-n gateways and adapters they ship until the end of 2006. If firmware upgrades aren't enough, they'll replace your hardware, with you paying just the shipping. Of course, they're guaranteeing compatibility with the March 2008 expected ratified version of 802.11n, but it still means that you won't be left with equipment that only works well with itself."
atheros a/b/g cards are dirt cheap now and it gives you the best of all worlds. Unless you are throwing gobs of HD content around at faster than real time you do not need N and b/g will be the defacto standard for a really really long time.
if you gotta have speed use A, it's dirt cheap now and you can get all band cards for dirt now as well.
That'll teach those pre-N-draft-802.11 not to jump the gun!
If firmware upgrades aren't enough, they'll replace your hardware, with you paying just the shipping.
The question is where to? This really has no value if they have you ship your card / router / motherboard to China via insured courier...
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Several computer makers now bake draft-n adapters into their laptops as an option .......I'm waiting for the brownie option myself
So if you buy an expensive card today, and there's a small chance they'll give you an inexpensive free replacement in two or three years.
Whoop-dee-freaking-doo.
I've been using wireless for several years (who here on /. hasn't??) and this seems to be a solution looking for a problem.
... even though the most of what I do involves streaming FLACs around the house. It seems to me as if all this speed stuff only chews up the entire ISM band and is more about channel aggregation than about something truly innovative. I can't imagine the range or total throughput can be good when myself and all my neighbors keep crowding the entire spectrum.
802.11n is (yet another) way of shoving 10 pounds of shit through a far smaller pipe than is really available. 802.11a/b/g really serves me well in all the things that I do
Really folks, how expensive is it to hardwire all the goodies that absolutely need the speed?? I'm probably missing the point.
// Agent Green (Ian / IU7 / KB1JQO)
// IEEE 802.3: All 10base Are Belong To Us
"Of course, they're guaranteeing compatibility with the March 2008 expected ratified version of 802.11n, but it still means that you won't be left with equipment that only works well with itself.""
:)
Security through exclusivity.
---
My word for today is spectrum.
i just got an n draft router because on my new laptop i got the n draft wireless card and so far i have had no problem with it so and i dont have to worry about compatablity because almost no place has n draft so i dont really see what the problem is...
Like anything else, it will be unstable for the first year, then become mainstream. No reason to "get ready..."
A house decked out in "pre-N" or "draft-N" stuff that isn't compatible with anything from any other manufacturers sounds like an excellent extra step in security. If you're out and about, most of this stuff will happily drop to G or B.
um... this is slashdot. Most of us here have equipment that always 'works well with ourselves'.
"Like anything else, it will be unstable for the first year, then become mainstream. No reason to "get ready...""
*note to self* Get married...later!
I never understood how people can be involved in the standards process while simultaneously allowed to undermine it. This seems like a strongarm tactic to me.
What did you eat today? http://www.atetoday.com/
RIGHT?!
When will they be rolling out Wireless 2.0? Beta of course...
Fuck asus and their promises. I have their router that is suppose to support an external HD and bittorrent. Well gues what? It works like shit, it works so bad it is completely useless.
Connect a HD to the router? All your files will be acessible from the outside via an anonymous FTP connection. NO FUCKING WAY TO TURN IT OFF. Also be prepared for the router to completely stop responding at random times if it has a HD connected.
Every torrent I tried to download never even started downloading. They just sat there.
I want to see that statement that ASUS made in writing and on their website before I'll 100% believe it
Being old enough to remember the v.32 modem compatibility problems when that was introduced, I'll wait until the "N" standard is set and becomes established as the defacto standard.
G.
That there's progress being made in wireless but not wired? State of the art isn't even close - multi OC-192 vs. ~100 mpbs.
That bandwidth needs are static, so by increasing link speeds we can catch up? LOL.
That you expect the laws of physics to be broken? The RF spectrum is by it's very nature shared. There are some technologies which make more efficient use of a given spectrum (CDMA, OFDM), but they still must content with physical reality - increasing the number of communications channels decreases bandwidth.
Or are you simply being sarcastic, since you haven't a clue about the technology or physics, and are therefore unable to reply with anything intelligent?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
If I remember correctly, the estimate for running a wire is about $100 for the first wire to a location, and an additional $10 for each additional wire to the same location.
Now this assumes that you have relatively new type construction. E.g. Drywall where you can put small holes in it and fish the wire through. Older type construction (say Plaster on Lathe in The US...), or Italian type construction (Plaster on Cinder-Block for interior walls? Gimme a break.) will cost significanty more.
If you are willing to put your wires on the wall with clips so that everyone sees it, It costs almost nothing. Except for the wife's continual noises about "ugly".
I suppose the real question is one of ease: At commodity prices, a Wireless Base unit (802.11g) and card (802.11g) will cover most homes and work well for everything but streaming video - for $100. It will take something like a half-hour to setup. Additional client cards are under $50.
In my house (US, built in 1909) and similar ones, you would have to cut a channel in the plaster from your patch-panel to every drop point. This would take a few hours with a circular saw and carbon cutting blade. Then someone will have to drill through all of the petrified joists. Then the wire would have to be pulled (another 15 minutes/drop). Then it would cost several hundred (to over a thousand) to cover it back up. In some homes you will have to do this anyhow, as the wall construction is Plaster over Wire Mesh, over Joists. (Think no wireless reception through it.) However, putting a wired network in an old house is expensive. Putting one in a new home costs less, but still more than WiFi.
my $.02