Windows 7: Fifth-Generation Wi-Fi Is Coming: Are You Ready for 802.11ac?

Borg 386 · 14 Apr 2012

Quote:

If your business has kept pace with changes in wireless networking, you've deployed dual-band routers and client adapters that can stream encrypted data over the airwaves at speeds greater than 100 megabits per second at relatively close range.

But no good deed goes unpunished. New hardware based on the nearly finished 802.11ac standard is about to debut, and it will make your existing wireless infrastructure feel as though it's mired in molasses.

Unlike 802.11n networking hardware, which can use either the 2.4GHz or the 5GHz frequency bands, 802.11ac devices will operate exclusively on the 5GHz band. The 2.4GHz band delivers better range, but Wi-Fi data streams that use it must compete with a multitude of other devices that operate at the same frequency--everything from microwave ovens to Bluetooth headsets). The 5GHz band contains many more available channels; and in the 802.11ac standard, each of those channels is 80MHz wide, versus the 40MHz width specified for channels under the 802.11n standard.

What's more, 802.11ac will use a modulation scheme that quadruples the amount of data that will fit on an encoded carrier signal. The maximum bandwidth per spatial stream in 802.11n is 150 mbps, which means that an 802.11n router outfitted with three transmit and three receive antennas can deliver maximum theoretical throughput of 450 mbps. In contrast, the maximum bandwidth in 802.11ac jumps to 433 mbps per spatial stream, and the maximum number of spatial streams increases from three to eight. So the theoretical maximum throughput on an 802.11ac network will eventually be several times that of gigabit ethernet. First-generation devices, however, will be limited to using either two or three transmit and receive antennas to deliver a theoretical throughput maximum of 866 mbps or 1.3 gbps).

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Fifth-Generation Wi-Fi Is Coming: Are You Ready for 802.11ac? | PCWorld

chev65 · 14 Apr 2012

The beam forming tech will help to overcome the lack of range associated with the 5.0GHz frequency band which many who use it complain about.

The real problem with the 5.0GHz frequency band is that it won't go through walls and obstacles nearly as well as the 2.4GHz frequency band so the beam forming has to part of the picture for this new 802.11ac tech to be useful.

1.3gbps WOW, that's fast but most likely we will only see 1/3 of that speed with the ac tech, still that is three times better than wireless N.

FuturDreamz · 16 Apr 2012

Why did they chose the two-letter AC code? did they think it sounded cooler?

Spidey1976 · 18 Apr 2012

They ran out of alphabet

... from wikipedia:

Standard and amendments
Within the IEEE 802.11 Working Group,[6] the following IEEE Standards Association Standard and Amendments exist:

IEEE 802.11-1997: The WLAN standard was originally 1 Mbit/s and 2 Mbit/s, 2.4 GHz RF and infrared (IR) standard (1997), all the others listed below are Amendments to this standard, except for Recommended Practices 802.11F and 802.11T.
IEEE 802.11a: 54 Mbit/s, 5 GHz standard (1999, shipping products in 2001)
IEEE 802.11b: Enhancements to 802.11 to support 5.5 and 11 Mbit/s (1999)
IEEE 802.11c: Bridge operation procedures; included in the IEEE 802.1D standard (2001)
IEEE 802.11d: International (country-to-country) roaming extensions (2001)
IEEE 802.11e: Enhancements: QoS, including packet bursting (2005)
IEEE 802.11F: Inter-Access Point Protocol (2003) Withdrawn February 2006
IEEE 802.11g: 54 Mbit/s, 2.4 GHz standard (backwards compatible with b) (2003)
IEEE 802.11h: Spectrum Managed 802.11a (5 GHz) for European compatibility (2004)
IEEE 802.11i: Enhanced security (2004)
IEEE 802.11j: Extensions for Japan (2004)
IEEE 802.11-2007: A new release of the standard that includes amendments a, b, d, e, g, h, i & j. (July 2007)
IEEE 802.11k: Radio resource measurement enhancements (2008)
IEEE 802.11n: Higher throughput improvements using MIMO (multiple input, multiple output antennas) (September 2009)
IEEE 802.11p: WAVE—Wireless Access for the Vehicular Environment (such as ambulances and passenger cars) (July 2010)
IEEE 802.11r: Fast BSS transition (FT) (2008)
IEEE 802.11s: Mesh Networking, Extended Service Set (ESS) (July 2011)
IEEE 802.11T: Wireless Performance Prediction (WPP)—test methods and metrics Recommendation cancelled
IEEE 802.11u: Interworking with non-802 networks (for example, cellular) (February 2011)
IEEE 802.11v: Wireless network management (February 2011)
IEEE 802.11w: Protected Management Frames (September 2009)
IEEE 802.11y: 3650–3700 MHz Operation in the U.S. (2008)
IEEE 802.11z: Extensions to Direct Link Setup (DLS) (September 2010)
IEEE 802.11-2012: A new release of the standard that includes amendments k, n, p, r, s, u, v, w, y, and z (March 2012)

[edit] In process

IEEE 802.11aa: Robust streaming of Audio Video Transport Streams (~ March 2012)
IEEE 802.11ac: Very High Throughput <6 GHz;[22] potential improvements over 802.11n: better modulation scheme (expected ~10% throughput increase); wider channels (80 or even 160 MHz), multi user MIMO;[23] (~ December 2012)
IEEE 802.11ad: Very High Throughput 60 GHz (~ Dec 2012) - see WiGig
IEEE 802.11ae: QoS Management (~ Dec 2011)
IEEE 802.11af: TV Whitespace (~ Mar 2012)
IEEE 802.11ah: Sub 1 GHz (~ July 2013)
IEEE 802.11ai: Fast Initial Link Setup (~ Sep 2014)

To reduce confusion, no standard or task group was named 802.11l, 802.11o, 802.11q, 802.11x, 802.11ab, or 802.11ag.
802.11F and 802.11T are recommended practices rather than standards, and are capitalized as such.
802.11m is used for standard maintenance. 802.11ma was completed for 802.11-2007 and 802.11mb is expected to completed for 802.11-2012.

FuturDreamz · 18 Apr 2012

Quote:

To reduce confusion, no standard or task group was named 802.11l, 802.11o, 802.11q, 802.11x, 802.11ab, or 802.11ag.

Why not 802.11q?

Coke Robot · 21 Apr 2012

Until the gigabit wireless speed comes into existence, meh!

carwiz · 21 Apr 2012

I've been running off a 5Ghz MIMO link antenna for over a year. The service transceiver is over three miles away. It was a step up from single channel but I'm still limited to the ISP's range of bandwidth to the web and my service agreement. The only place that would shine is in a local area network.

DustSailor · 21 Apr 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by FuturDreamz

Quote:

To reduce confusion, no standard or task group was named 802.11l, 802.11o, 802.11q, 802.11x, 802.11ab, or 802.11ag.

Why not 802.11q?

Here is why:

Quote: Originally Posted by Spidey1976

To reduce confusion, no standard or task group was named 802.11l, 802.11o, 802.11q, 802.11x, 802.11ab, or 802.11ag.

FuturDreamz · 22 Apr 2012

But how woul... Oh, q looks too much like 9?

And why not Unicode? I would welcome 802.11æ.

djshonrock · 22 Apr 2012

a better technology arising....

Shon John Xander

Windows 7: Fifth-Generation Wi-Fi Is Coming: Are You Ready for 802.11ac?

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