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Part of the Furniture
TLDR; Recommend the site base the Rating Classes on the actual performance, and limit the non-standard extensions..
Just some thoughts... and how we can keep vendors honest...
802.11n supports three streams in most implementations - some vendors have put forth some non-standard extensions, for example TurboQAM in 2.4GHz, and ganging up 5GHz 3-stream Radio's to make an "AC3200" class device... BS... That's basically marketing... add up everything, including the non-standard crap, and you've got a really big number... and watch the devices fly off the shelves...
So.. Let's step back a bit...
A 3-steam 802.11n 2.4GHz radio that is "standards compliant" is an "N450" radio, and one that limits channel width to 20MHz (Hello Apple, this is for you!) is an N216 at best...
Going into 5GHz - it goes down the same path - we've got most vendors right now at 3-stream 802.11ac which is "AC1300" - some want to put two together - e.g. Broadcom X-Stream, but basically at the end of the day, from a client perspective, it's not AC2600, much less AC3200, it's AC1300 in the 5GHz band...
The 4-stream implementation from Quantenna is perhaps honest at Ac1600 speeds - 802.11ac MCS9 @ 80MHz channels, each stream being 433Mbits...
So what this means - dear marketeers...
Currently offered - an "AC3200" class device on the shelf is actually an N450/AC1300 (with dual radios, btw), or what is classified right now by SNB standards is an AC1750 device at best. Same goes with every "AC1900" class device, unless they, well, basically they don't, have a solution there - TurboQAM does not count in 2.4GHz
just saying... perhaps we rate them in band class - N450/AC1300 for example - if it's three stream across the bands, can't be any faster, eh? Add a stream to the 5GHz, then it becomes an N450/AC1600 class device.
At present - most of the clients devices you can buy - single stream 802.11n in 2.4GHz on the low-end (and very common actually), perhaps 2-stream there for N300 class - same goes with the 5Ghz band - N150, N300, N450, perhaps AC533/AC867 with AC1300 on the high end...
Reason why I bring this up - people look to the site for reviews and recommendations - and then when they buy that "AC3200" class router, and they hook up their low-end Lenovo/Dell/HP latops with a single stream 2.4Ghz 802.11n card, they are unhappy that they only get 65Mbps at best... how many times have we seen this as the collective "hive mind" and have to tell them - "that's the breaks, bro..."
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Just some thoughts... and how we can keep vendors honest...
802.11n supports three streams in most implementations - some vendors have put forth some non-standard extensions, for example TurboQAM in 2.4GHz, and ganging up 5GHz 3-stream Radio's to make an "AC3200" class device... BS... That's basically marketing... add up everything, including the non-standard crap, and you've got a really big number... and watch the devices fly off the shelves...
So.. Let's step back a bit...
A 3-steam 802.11n 2.4GHz radio that is "standards compliant" is an "N450" radio, and one that limits channel width to 20MHz (Hello Apple, this is for you!) is an N216 at best...
Going into 5GHz - it goes down the same path - we've got most vendors right now at 3-stream 802.11ac which is "AC1300" - some want to put two together - e.g. Broadcom X-Stream, but basically at the end of the day, from a client perspective, it's not AC2600, much less AC3200, it's AC1300 in the 5GHz band...
The 4-stream implementation from Quantenna is perhaps honest at Ac1600 speeds - 802.11ac MCS9 @ 80MHz channels, each stream being 433Mbits...
So what this means - dear marketeers...
Currently offered - an "AC3200" class device on the shelf is actually an N450/AC1300 (with dual radios, btw), or what is classified right now by SNB standards is an AC1750 device at best. Same goes with every "AC1900" class device, unless they, well, basically they don't, have a solution there - TurboQAM does not count in 2.4GHz
just saying... perhaps we rate them in band class - N450/AC1300 for example - if it's three stream across the bands, can't be any faster, eh? Add a stream to the 5GHz, then it becomes an N450/AC1600 class device.
At present - most of the clients devices you can buy - single stream 802.11n in 2.4GHz on the low-end (and very common actually), perhaps 2-stream there for N300 class - same goes with the 5Ghz band - N150, N300, N450, perhaps AC533/AC867 with AC1300 on the high end...
Reason why I bring this up - people look to the site for reviews and recommendations - and then when they buy that "AC3200" class router, and they hook up their low-end Lenovo/Dell/HP latops with a single stream 2.4Ghz 802.11n card, they are unhappy that they only get 65Mbps at best... how many times have we seen this as the collective "hive mind" and have to tell them - "that's the breaks, bro..."
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