802.11n, a status check

G

Geo

Mostly Harmless
Legend
http://wifinetnews.com/archives/007420.html

I've been following this saga for the better part of a year, because I'd really like faster wireless home networking. This guy generally seems to know what he's about.

I've got your good news, and I've got your bad news. Which would you like first? :smile:

The good news is that those who've already invested in "Draft N" gear will, almost against all odds, not be totally screwed after all. There has yet to be a vendor who has said that Draft N gear is not upgradeable to the Draft 2.0 spec. Draft 2.0 now seems to be on the road to acceptance (tho it's been a long rocky road, so who knows, maybe there's another bump yet).

The bad news is that since all current (that I've seen anyway) Draft N implementations are 2.4GHz, you still might not get the full benefit of Draft N if you have much 2.4GHz traffic within range of your router. Wireless phones, neighbors wireless 802.11g networks, whatever. 802.11n gets most of its speed increase by bonding together two channels. Not stomping on other 2.4GHz devices/networks in range of the router is a major part of what caused the rejection of the original Draft. This has been resolved by adding a fallback mode where the 802.11n devices, when detecting other 2.4GHz traffic in the vicinity will use only one channel instead of two.

5GHz 802.11n equipment will likely mostly avoid this problem, as there is less 5GHz traffic out there in the first place, and more channels available to begin with (23 vs 11). The problem is, if you need a mixed network (say one of the family's laptops is still 802.11g) then you still need 2.4GHz as well as 5GHz, and you're going to want a router that can do both simultaneously (rather than just configurable to do one or the other at the users discretion). Otherwise you'd have to chose between 802.11g compatibility and the liklihood of a down-throttled speed due to traffic in 2.4GHz band on the one hand, vs no 802.11g compatibility but higher speed on the other hand.

So, even tho it appears that probably all of the current "Draft N" stuff is going to be compatible with the final standard, it still seems like "what you really want" is not available on the market just yet --and that's dual-band simultaneous routers that can do both 2.4GHz and 5GHz concurrently and transparently.

Edit: Ah, it seems there are some dual-band out there after all. http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=548 This one was announced at CES in January. At any rate, when you go shopping be sure to look for that. . .

Superior performance over competing draft 802.11n routers with simultaneous dual band (2.4 and 5.8GHz) operation
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the information. I knew that N just passed a huge hurdle recently and seemed to be on track. I think Intel putting their version of N within their chipsets had something to do with it. It also shouldn't be a surprise that Draft N gets a slight shaft compared to the final spec - I think G was the same.

ETA is still a year out though?

Waiting to upgrade my network to Gigabit & N and get a new laptop with N built-in.
 
Ty said:
ETA is still a year out though?
Click to expand...

Final ratification, yes. Tho it seems likely that some time late this spring or summer you should be able to buy the routers and add-in cards you want with low-to-no risk of getting screwed by any major changes. Hard to say for sure on laptops yet, tho with Dell (for example) selling add-on internal NIC units you'd think that would help a lot to make that switchover faster than it's been in the past too. And, yeah, I've been waiting for this too. I want a new laptop, but I've resisted buying one to wait for three things: Vista, hybrid drive, and 802.11n.
 
I think they are aiming for a 4x practical improvement, from roughly 25mb/s of G to 100mb/s for N rather than the theoretical marketing numbers for each.
 
No one will ever figure out why they designed non gigalan routers/chipsets in the first place but at least they fixed that now.
 
Im actually disappointed with draft n equipment so far. I was hoping that i could get a connection going through 2 concrete walls, but it doesn't look like its going to happen. Equipment goes back to Office Max later this week.

epic
 
epicstruggle said:
Im actually disappointed with draft n equipment so far. I was hoping that i could get a connection going through 2 concrete walls, but it doesn't look like its going to happen. Equipment goes back to Office Max later this week.

epic
Click to expand...


What maker/models were you using?
 
The Linksys models that are up to spec and even the older ones have a very good feature: they drastically reduce interference. In other words: they tend to ignore walls and bounchy (metal) surfaces, and give a much better reception at difficult locations.

With the oldest models (like the original WRT54G and the Asus 500G(X)), you could boost the signal quite a lot. But that made the reception straight next to the access point actually a lot worse. The newer models reduce all that interference like a charm.

It's the difference between the signal strength and the signal quality, like with satellites. They reduce the cross-over and interference by time shifting the data, AFAIK. Like with plate antennas, that consist of multiple sender/receiver elements. And that works very well.

In short: They work great at 2.4 Ghz in locations where other equipment isn't able to connect, even while the signal strength is ample.

Highly recommended, but make sure at least the access point has three antenna's, or two and a plate, or a cross plate. And you want one of those at the other end as well for the best results (uploading data).
 
epicstruggle said:
Im actually disappointed with draft n equipment so far. I was hoping that i could get a connection going through 2 concrete walls, but it doesn't look like its going to happen. Equipment goes back to Office Max later this week.

epic
Click to expand...
If there is no clear space through which the signal can travel, you can boost the power of the access point. But you need a good kit at the other side as well for the best results. And it will make the reception worse close to the access point if you boost it too much.

If the default firmware doesn't allow you to boost the signal, you need to download a custom one. Which might take some time to develop for the new kits.
 
trinibwoy said:
Yaaay, so we'll get final products in 2009? :D
Click to expand...

:LOL:

Well, now I'm curious: What was the timeline when they were voting for/approving 802.11a/b/g :?: Keeping in mind:

It’s not quite correct to say that the draft has “passed,” since it’s not yet moving on to the next stage of the IEEE process (called a “sponsor ballot”).
Click to expand...

How much time might we all be looking at?
 
You should get reliable products that are certified to work together and will upgrade by firmware to the final standard (whenever that is!) in the next 3 months.

Just be sure to get certified interoperable ones, and ones that do both 2.4 and 5.6 GHZ concurrently.
 
Cool, thanks :)

I'm mainly looking forward to switching to the higher frequency band for all my computers (no more bloody interference from the microwave :devilish:). Do you know if it will be an option to have 802.11a and n operate at the same time?
 
Anyone know of any N equipment that actually can run in the 5ghz range? Or am I still free and clear with my 802.11a setup? :D

It's nice not having any interference.
 
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