RSS802.11n Standard Unlikely Until 2008
By Ed Oswald | Published August 14, 2006, 4:38 PM
A backlog of almost 12,000 comments on the first draft of the proposed 802.11n standard is pushing back the second draft, originally planned for late fall of this year. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) said late last week that it is likely that the second draft would not appear until January 2007.
The delay means that the final standard may not be approved until 2008, industry insiders say. While approximately half of the comments had to do with editorial changes needed in the document, the remaining 6,000 or so comments may lead to changes that put some of the pre-802.11n hardware in danger of being incompatible with the final standard.
PC manufacturers like Dell have included compatibility with the draft specification in some of their laptops, and Belkin, D-Link, Linksys and Netgear have all begun manufacturing pre-802.11n compliant equipment and accessories.
A task force within the IEEE has been slowly moving through all the comments, however it says the procedure is a "tedious and time-consuming process." The pushed back deadline should give the group enough time to catch up.
Several issues remain, including agreement on a method to combine wireless channels to increase throughput and conserve power, along with issues regarding MIMO products from different vendors working poorly together. Still, device makers are optimistic that this issues will be remedied in the coming months.
Some even said the issue over the delay and surrounding problems is overblown, and asserted that the proposed wireless standard is in no danger.
Those wanting to use the pre-802.11n equipment should be buying equipment from the same vendor until the standard is finalized, companies say, acknowledging interoperability issues.
not a good idea to buy an 802.11n right now. better wait till its on the masses before getting one.
Stick with 802.11g and save your money!!
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|802.11n has its problems anyway, while a "better" signal strength may sound great, the signal has a higher frequency, meaning shorter wavelength and therefore the signal carries a shorter distance than 802.11g does.
Maybe that's the point, and perhaps they want the specs changed before the new standard is official--but I'm purely speculating here.
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|802.11n runs on the same frequency as 11b and 11g - 2.4Ghz (hence all the problems regarding interference). I don't know where you're getting your mis-information. Are you sure you're not confusing this with 11a? (5Ghz)
The improved signal strength (and range, for that matter), come mostly from the wave-forming and wave-combining technologies of MIMO. The fact that 11n can use the entire spectrum of channels also allows for greater throughput and some would say greater tolerance to interferencing on a particular frequency.
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|so i guess these arent good news for the early adopters .... specially the ones buying the already available "pre-n" products :)
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|Not really... I've used mine for over a year and will continue to do so long after the standard is finalized. It's not like the pre-n's are a Dell battery... ;)
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|So much for built-in wifi security. WEP is trivial, WPA isn't perfect, and WPA2(802.11n) may not be same WPA2 in 2008. I expect to see a lot more info and tutorials on running IPSec on public wifi networks soon. Its only a matter of time before easy sniffing tools are in the hands of the script kiddies.
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|I think you have your protocols confused! 802.11n is NOT a security protocol! 802.11n provides for a standardized method for processing MIMO among other things - but it is NOT a security standard!
What you are thinking of is IEEE802.11i-AES and it was formally approved in June 2004! It is informally known as WPA2 and it IS secure!
Just make sure that your router and wireless card support it - and most do not. Additionally, older pre-802.11i standard routers WEP and WPA cannot support it. WPA implemented TKIP while maintaining the improperly implemented RC4 cypher primitive in an attempt to provide a software patch to the fatally flawed WEP while still using the same router hardware. And WEP is indeed broken as well! It just takes a few more minutes!
And a myriad number of crack tools are available and have been available for several years already!
802.11i requires a router with a more robust processor, thus 802.11i is not backwards compatible with the older WEP & WPA hardware.
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|oops you're right. 802.11i is security.
doh.
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|802.11i requires a router with a more robust processor, thus 802.11i is not backwards compatible with the older WEP & WPA hardware.
That's fine with me. I'd rather have security implementations that work than worry about backwards compatibility with the stuff that doesn't work...
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|hurry up you red tape wh0res!
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