Wireless Networking 802.11n by:Chris Holgate

It's been years in development but this September it looks like 802.11n Wi-Fi will finally become a standard..

. well, an official standard anyway.

Presently the majority of the wireless hardware you will buy (routers, wireless network cards, printers etc) will use a networking specification called 802.11g which has a maximum speed of 54Mbps. This maximum speed is being increasingly seen as inadequate as applications become more complex and require more bandwidth.

The successor, 802.11n is being ratified to increase both the speed and range of wireless devices however it should be noted that due to the time the IEEE Task Group n have been arguing about the intricacies, equipment manufacturers got bored and decided to run with the draft specification. As a result, the fact that 802.11n is becoming 'official' is unlikely to change a great deal as hardware utilising the new standard has been available for some time now. Although these devices have been produced working on the draft specification, the reality is that there are very few differences between this and the anticipated final 'official' release.

Essentially based on the current 802.11g standard, 802.11n uses some new technology and tweaks to give Wi-Fi more speed and range. The most notable part of this technology is called 'multiple input, multiple output' or MIMO for short. MIMO uses several antennas to transmit multiple data streams simultaneously rather than a single antenna transmitting just one stream of data. This allows more data to be transmitted in the same period of time while also increasing the potential range of the network.

Other technologies include payload optimisation which results in more data being transmitted in each packet and channel bonding which can use two separate non-overlapping channels at the same time to transmit data. The result is all this is achievable data transmission rates of around 100Mbps and double the potential range of 802.11g.

There are no additional improvements as far as security is concerned because they really are not needed. As the standard WPA2 encryption provided by older network hardware have proven to be incredibly secure.

It's worth checking the box of any network equipment you have purchased in the last couple of years as you may find it is already compatible with 802.11n and simply needs setting up correctly. It goes without saying that in order to benefit from the faster speed both the transmitting and receiving devices both have to support 802.11n; A 802.11n router working with a 802.11g laptop will result in slower 802.11g speeds.

Currently devices rated 'N' are more pricey than the older 'G' ones, however not immoderately so; our 'N' rated wireless routers normally sell for around a 10 more than the 25 'G' rated ones. Of course, if you are already happy with the Wi-Fi connectivity of your network and the upgrade will mean replacing perfectly functional hardware. In such a situation serious consideration as to whether your needs warrant the faster hardware would be natural.

At present 802.11n will only be required by those with blisteringly fast broadband connections or those that regularly copy large volumes of data across a wireless network however it will soon become the norm. If upgrading your hardware, therefore, it may well be worth paying a couple of extra pounds now to ensure that you remain future proof.

About the author

Chris Holgate writes a weekly article of all things tech related. He is a director and copyrighter of the online computer consumables business Refresh Cartridges http://www.refreshcartridges.co.uk An archive of the articles can be found at .

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