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Waiting for N-uffman: 802.11n One Step Closer to Reality

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) said that the industry has accepted draft 2.0 of the 802.11n spec, and is hopeful that the faster wireless LAN standard will be ratified as soon as September. It's about time!

The industry has been waiting for 802.11n for nearly four years. Now that the spec has received 75% approval, the faster wireless networking technology could be speeding up Web surfers in mere months. Thank goodness. When you look at how much the wireless industry has changed in the last four years, the IEEE is lucky we're still interested in 802.11n.

802.11n differs from its a/b/g cousins in bandwidth and throughout with the use of multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO) antenna arrays. Backhaul limitations aside, the IEEE says the the standard could blast bits through the air at 500 Mbit/s in peak conditions. That's a far cry better than 802.11g's molasses-like 54 MBits/s.

There's still some work to be done, however. Even though Draft 2.0 doesn't include any major system changes to Draft 1.0, companies and organizations will have to make sure that the pre-n equipment already on the market works with the finalized standard. Many claim that any differences can be accounted for with software upgrades.

I wonder if they're going to charge $1.99 like Apple did...

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