Concerns Over Increased 802.11n Power Usage

alphadogg writes "Next-generation 802.11n systems promise to considerably improve WLAN performance. But the processing required for the boost sucks up more power than the older 802.11a/b/g networks. Still, many enterprise-class Wi-Fi vendors claim to deliver full 802.11n capabilities without enterprise customers having to touch their power infrastructures. So what gives?"

Comments

Re:What about the remote clients?

[maird]

Maybe skimming TFA wasn't the best basis for comment. The article mentions no power issue at the client. It's basically saying that:

• The problem applies to 802.11n wireless access points powered via Ethernet (PoE)
• The 802.3af PoE standard only permits about 12.95W of power at the cable end where power is required
• 802.11n devices in current production typically require up to 18W
• 18 > 12.95
• Therefore, such 802.11n access points cannot operate at full power (probably limiting their transmit power)
• Therefore, such 802.11n access points cannot transmit with the same range as a fully powered version
• Clients are unaffected and can transmit at full power and full range (maybe the AP can't reach them to reply though)
• The 802.3at PoE standard (when available) will provide up to 30W for devices

Wrong assumptions

[Casandro]

Essentially just because vendor A has devices which consume "up to 18 watts" it doesn't mean that nobody can build devices which take less than 13 Watts.

That's just 5 watts difference. You could probably achieve this by switching to higher efficiency components. Or you could store some energy for the short bursts of transmission, getting a steady power of 13 watts.

Keep in mind that most vendors probably still have the very first itteration of hardware. It will significantly improve over the next years anyhow.