802.11n Standard Finalised

http://www.trustedreviews.com/networking/news/2009/09/14/802-11n-Standard-Finalised/p1

 

that was much too fast!! they should delay it till 2011 or later!!

 

And my college is stuck with Draft N ... yay ...

 

Draft N supposed to be upgradable to Standard N by firmware upgrade and/or newer driver. But let's just see the reality in the next few months...

 

Is there supposed to be a difference? Draft and Non-Draft?

 

Before it reaches final/non-draft, it has gone through several revisions. The last rev is the widely implemented draft 2.0. The final is said to be only slight amendment to the draft 2.0 (CMIIW).

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8254085.stm

'Next generation' wi-fi approved
laptops

manufacturers have been selling 802.11n products for many years

The next-generation of wi-fi technology has finally been approved for use, despite being on sale in laptops and other equipment for several years.

The 802.11n technology, as it is known, was ratified by the IEEE, a body that oversees all wi-fi standards.

It was conceived seven years ago and offers speeds at least six times faster than current approved technology.

Electronics firms have sold PCs and routers using the standard for many years, labelled "802.11n draft".

But without the IEEE's approval, there were no guarantees that future networking equipment would be compatible with the devices.

The IEEE's rubber stamp has changed that.

All existing draft 802.11n wi-fi products will work with the final standard, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance, a group that tests wireless products to ensure compliance.

"This was an extraordinarily wide-ranging technical challenge," said Bruce Kraemer of the IEEE.

"When we started in 2002, many of the technologies addressed in 802.11n were university research topics and had not been implemented."

Under ideal conditions, 802.11n technology can offer speeds of 300 megabits per second (Mbps) and above, many times higher than the previous 802.11g, which operates at speeds of up to 54 Mbps.

It is also able to transfer data over distances of 90m (300ft) indoors, double that of previous technologies.

 

Great, another thing to keep in mind when laptop shopping...

 

And I just read in some thread that Itouch already has that standard installed. Correct me if Im wrong.

 

It shouldn't be a big deal, as supposedly the final version of the standard ensures interoperability with draft 2.0 devices with or without the firmware upgrade.

 

"IEEE 802.11n-2009 is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11-2007 wireless networking standard to improve network throughput over previous standards, such as 802.11b and 802.11g, with a significant increase in the maximum raw, OSI physical layer (PHY) data rate from 54 Mbit/s to a maximum of 600 Mbit/s. The current state of the art supports a PHY rate of 450 Mbit/s, with the use of 3 spatial streams at a channel width of 40 MHz. Depending on the environment, this may translate into a user throughput (TCP/IP) of 110 Mbit/s."

so... what does it mean? in the future will we be able to get 600mbit/s on wifi?

 

It means that the specification allows for a total of 4 antennas per device, each capable of transmitting 150Mb/s. Right now no routers use even 3 antennas, though some wireless cards do. I suspect it won't be till 2011 that we see something with 4 antennas, if at all.

 

The maximum I ever achieved with 300mb/s N was 8MB/s at 5GHZ, using various N range Wireless Cards, way off the quoted 300mb/s mark, N is already showing it's age... then need to up it 1500mb/s, as going from 54mb/s to 300mb/s gave it a jump of 3MB/s to 8MB/s, so in order to achieve a significant speed boost they need to push the technology to 1500mb/s, I doubt 600mb/s will get it past 10Mb/s.