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What the FCC's Wi-Fi Expansion Means For You

Posted by timothy on from the new-haircuts-all-around dept.

alphadogg writes "Mobile devices like the iPhone 5 are embracing the 5GHz band, and that trend will expand as 802.11ac radios become prevalent even on smartphones starting in 2013. The FCC announced a New Year's Wi-Fi gift during the International CES show earlier this month: a proposal to dramatically expand the unlicensed spectrum in the 5GHz frequency band for use by Wi-Fi devices. The announcement comes as a growing number of vendors are announcing products that will support the "Gigabit Wi-Fi" 802.11ac standard in 2013. To find out the implications of the FCC's plan, Network World talked with Matthew Gast, director of product management for Aerohive Networks (author of "802.11n: A Survival Guide"). Gast blogged enthusiastically after FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the spectrum move, even admitting he had an 'engineer-crush' on the chairman as a result."

5 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. same as before, use Cat5 by alen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    in NYC so many people have wifi that i get better performance with cat5. i got tired of my xbox disconnecting from Live and started using Cat5 instead.

    i have something like 20 hot spots around me. 5GHz will be nice for a few years until everyone gets on it as well.

    1. Re:same as before, use Cat5 by GameboyRMH · · Score: 5, Informative

      Cat5 (or Cat6e if you want futureproofing) is just better for any device that doesn't move.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    2. Re:same as before, use Cat5 by Ost99 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Range on 5GHz tends to be limited by walls etc. so you should get less interference / overlapping with 5GHz inside your own house / apartment.

      --
      ---- Sig. gone.
    3. Re:same as before, use Cat5 by h4rr4r · · Score: 5, Informative

      This, 100 times this. If you have a device that is not being moved, run a wire. It is not hard to do nor is it expensive if you need to pay someone.

      In the vast majority if not all states, even renters can do this provided the seal the holes back up when they leave. No matter what the contract states. Check your local laws before doing this of course.

  2. Re:Nothing... for several years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wrong, it is something that should start shipping to end users within the end of this year. I should know, I am writing software that will ship this to the first bunch of OEMs around Feb. After that hopefully, in a couple of months, some APs should arrive in the market. And I am talking about enterprise, not just personal usage. 11ac is wanted desperately by the industry.