Next-Gen Wi-Fi Lands @ CES with 802.11ac Products

[opmopadop]

[citation][nom]nottheking[/nom] Speaking of that, the "AC" thing is confusing. Is it intended to be a successor to 802.11a? [/citation]

Think of it like counting in letters, this is 'standard' 29. Not every standard is meant to be an improvement, but more of a specification for a different purpose.
25 = y
26 = z
27 = aa
28 = ab
29 = ac

 

[nottheking]

[citation][nom]opmopadop[/nom]Think of it like counting in letters,[/citation]
That's what I'd last concluded on for "N," though it begged the question of why I'd never seen any mention of any of the other standards in-between. After all, even if they never met adoption, certainly there would've been at least some press coverage for them before they vanished from public.

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]nottheking[/nom]CAT 5e will handle gigabit Ethernet. If you installed CAT 6, then it technically supports 10-gigabit Ethernet... For whenever they ever actually release them for home PC use[/citation]
I did have it as an eye for the future, but it seems Wifi is catching up quickly, when my kids get to be teenagers they will wonder what those strange old fashioned wall-ports were for.
"A wired network, son"
"Wired? Dad your such an old fuddy duddy"

 

[freggo]

As for the specs, I want it. Going to 5GHz should alleviate some of the interference problems with all the other wireless gear in the neighborhood. But I wish they'd fire the dyslexic guy in charge of naming the standards

 

[ap3x]

[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]It'll be another 5 years before it gets out of draft-ac[/citation]

lol, Sad but true. The technical specifications can completely change but then.

 

[ap3x]

[citation][nom]freggo[/nom]As for the specs, I want it. Going to 5GHz should alleviate some of the interference problems with all the other wireless gear in the neighborhood. But I wish they'd fire the dyslexic guy in charge of naming the standards [/citation]


Yea, 5Ghz is nice but I am not sure what they have done different in that frequency than what was done in 802.11a. It does not penetrate walls very well at all so I wonder what Trend is doing.

They are know for making high powered wireless routers. Maybe that is what they are doing. Bumping the power to make up for the wall penetration issues with the 5Ghz spectrum.

 

[ap3x]

Anand has a nice article about it. Looks like closed loop Beam forming is going to help a bit with the propagation issues. I bet Trend is still going to bump the power a bit though.

http/www.anandtech.com/show/5292/80211ac-gigabit-wifi-primer

 

[nottheking]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]I did have it as an eye for the future, but it seems Wifi is catching up quickly,[/citation]
I dunno about that. After all, as some have pointed out, we'll likely see a cycle like we had with 802.11n, where it was announced years ago, and just only recently stopped being "pre-n" or "draft-n." Meanwhile, we've already had less-publicized developments for terabit Ethernet. Coincidentally, 2015 is where 802.11ac will finally get full release, so we'll have 6.8 gbps WiFi (assuming the final revision gets the full "potential" bandwidth) vs. 1,000 gbps Ethernet.

Granted, it's likely that few home users will need anywhere near that level, let alone by 2015: already, 10gbps as I mentioned has been around a while, just not implemented much for home PCs, and largely relegated to HPC and datacenters. I mean, even if you were streaming a 2160p, in 3D, at 60fps, raw, you'd only need about 23.9 gbps of bandwidth. (though this does give us an idea of the sort of bandwidth our digital TV connectors are going to need) Compressed, it wouldn't need anywhere near that; with 1080p being 48mbps, 200mbps would, in fact, be fine for streaming; 802.11n can't always quite meet this, but 802.11ac should be plenty enough.

 

[rebel1280]

[citation][nom]willard[/nom]Anyone who just upgraded their network to 802.11n has no right to complain. 802.11n isn't exactly a new specification. Products have been on the shelf for going on three years now. Are you really that surprised that your "brand new" three year old technology isn't top of the line anymore?Personally, I've been looking to move my home network to 5 GHz, and this seems like the perfect way to do it. Count me in as an early adopter.[/citation]
Agreed 100%

Also, from what I'm reading, most people here are talking about transferring large files between home computers. Well, unless your got a massive raid 0 or raid 5, you'll never saturate even a 1Gb network. You are limited by your drive speed at that point. Would be nice if the next XBOX 720 would have gigabit with built in b/g/n/ac though (and while I'm at it, SSD with 6 GB transfer speed) Since i do stream videos and music over my 360 at this point.

 

[willard]

[citation][nom]ap3x[/nom]Yea, 5Ghz is nice but I am not sure what they have done different in that frequency than what was done in 802.11a. It does not penetrate walls very well at all so I wonder what Trend is doing. They are know for making high powered wireless routers. Maybe that is what they are doing. Bumping the power to make up for the wall penetration issues with the 5Ghz spectrum.[/citation]
Beam forming is mentioned in the article to alleviate the range issues. I'm no WiFi expert, but I think it has something to do with constructive interference between multiple antenna producing a "beam" of stronger signal, which software figures out the best way to point to get optimal signal strength. Bouncing off walls, and such.

 

[g-thor]

Next-Gen Pre-standard, Not Up to Snuff, Not Quite Ready for Prime-time Wi-Fi Lands @ CES with 802.11ac Products

There. Fixed that for you.

 

[marokero]

It will be wonderful when our ISPs catch up to those speeds. Right now I get 20mbps at home, and 35mbps at work - even the cheap Linksys AP (802.11b) we use in the office is faster than our internet connection. New tech is always nice, but gotta watch out for that pre-standard classification. Things could change drastically, or the industry decides to skip the standard in favor of another, then you could be left with a brink - a $200 one

Mimo and/or beamforming is not always a replacement for output power. I have a 802.11n Belkin router with mimo (and 2.4Ghz/5.8Ghz capable) at home, and it can not cover my entire house, let alone out to my backyard. So I got a Ubiquiti Bullet M2 HP, which is also 802.11n (2.4Ghz only), but with 600mW of output to an 8dBi omni antenna, and I get signal EVERYWHERE in my property, even 200ft away down my street. Even turning power down 3dB to comply with FCC rules I still get pretty much the same coverage. And that's with a baby monitor that smothers all of the 2.4Ghz spectrum (for US wifi), and several neighbors using 2.4Ghz APs nearby.

 

[DaddyW123]

Highspeed wireless is great and I am really looking forward to seeing this grow and become standard - however, don't knock hard wired connections. In my next house, I'm definitely going to wire every room with Cat6. There wasn't much point in my current Townhouse because it's far too difficult to get from the 1st floor to the 2nd or 3rd. 2 to 3 and to my attic was easy for my coax cable run, but the 1st floor has some duct work and bulk heads that are just too much in the way.

But anyway, Hard wired connections will always be more stable and secure (no ability for someone to hack in from their car outside your house). Granted I won't do away with wireless, I'm just saying hard wire will still be king in my book for quite a while.

 

[Taylor422]

[citation][nom]DaddyW123[/nom]Highspeed wireless is great and I am really looking forward to seeing this grow and become standard - however, don't knock hard wired connections. In my next house, I'm definitely going to wire every room with Cat6. There wasn't much point in my current Townhouse because it's far too difficult to get from the 1st floor to the 2nd or 3rd. 2 to 3 and to my attic was easy for my coax cable run, but the 1st floor has some duct work and bulk heads that are just too much in the way.But anyway, Hard wired connections will always be more stable and secure (no ability for someone to hack in from their car outside your house). Granted I won't do away with wireless, I'm just saying hard wire will still be king in my book for quite a while.[/citation]

I agree. There's still something to be said for a nice hard line. No muss, no fuss. None of this interference shenanigans. Sure, wireless is nice for laptops and smartphones, but I'll die before my desktop isn't on a hardline.