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802.11ah Wi-Fi Standard Approved (networkworld.com)
alphadogg writes: A new wireless standard that extends Wi-Fi's reach down into the 900MHz band will keep the 802.11 family at the center of the developing Internet of Things, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced today. 802.11ah, combines lower power requirements with a lower frequency, which means that those signals propagate better. That offers a much larger effective range than current Wi-Fi standards, which operate on 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies, and lets the newer technology penetrate walls and doors more easily.
That's the key question: Unless you have an available open access frequency band, this standard is just wishful thinking instead of a new product.
The current allocations in Europe (http://www.erodocdb.dk/docs/doc98/official/pdf/ERCRep025.pdf) covers all of 890-942, 942-960 and 960-1164 MHz, with usage mostly cell phone, radio-navigation and broadcasting.
Terje
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
The bitrate for HaLow will (initially) be 18 Mbps max (source: Computerworld and a dozen other websites).
But the intended purpose range is IOT, and I don't see refrigerators, light switches and thermometers needing more than that.
(Insert famous "640 K should be enough for everyone" quote here).
Myth?
5GHz won't penetrate a few leaves let alone walls. 2.4GHz is quite a bit better, but it still suffers attenuation issues. 900MHz penetration is orders of magnitude better than the previous two options.
If you want to be pedantic and whinge about propagation != attenuation, that's up to you. But, for "clueless" mortals, they realize rather quickly; when there are obstructions(i.e. real life) 900MHz reaches further than higher frequencies. It ain't no myth it's physics, bitch.
Lets see I already have on IoT radio in the ISM band, another in the 2,.4ghz, one at 345mhz, some sensors running a send only at 433mhz, and yet another that can run in 433/868/915MHz then add in 802..11ac in 2.4 and 5ghz. I realy do not think I need more bandwidth for my IoT gear. I need a standard for the end devices and a home controller aka things that should be designed to last for decades vs thing that should be regularly updated. The only real good thing I see from this is your average consumer gateway will have a radio that connects to our IoT devices and the encryption is stronger than what we have seen so far.
No sir I dont like it.