What's new

SmallNetBuilder's CES 2013 Wrap-Up

  • SNBForums Code of Conduct

    SNBForums is a community for everyone, no matter what their level of experience.

    Please be tolerant and patient of others, especially newcomers. We are all here to share and learn!

    The rules are simple: Be patient, be nice, be helpful or be gone!

vnangia

Senior Member
Thanks for the writeup - much appreciated. A few questions and one comment.

The questions concern the draft-ac routers:
1. One of the thing that ended up happening with the draft-n routers is that they were all incorporated into the spec - such that they just dropped the "draft" and it became an N router. Did you get the sense that this is likely or are early adopters basically SOL?

2. Additionally, what, if anything, can we expect on the wired side, since the gigabit ethernet ports are actually slower than the wireless interface (in theory)?

3. Finally, the draft-ac spec actually seems to indicate that given a proper 8 antenna setup and sufficient clients, we can actually hit a combined throughput (in an ideal scenario) of just under 7gbps. While I'm usually an early adopter, I'm thinking about waiting until the first generation of 8-antenna routers come about - is that likely to happen this year?

Comment concerns the Hypershop "iUSBPort" - I actually backed it on Kickstarter when it was called "CloudFTP". The problem has been that though it works as advertised, the support for the product is really lacking. I have no idea where to get firmware updates to fix small issues. I guess that's sort of the problem we always have, but just to keep in mind that as much fun as the wifi sharers are, even getting it from a relatively known OEM doesn't guarantee support - most unfortunate!

PS: Are you using the Republic Defy for a review or a personal phone? I was also thinking about going that way until I discovered Ting...
 
The questions concern the draft-ac routers:
1. One of the thing that ended up happening with the draft-n routers is that they were all incorporated into the spec - such that they just dropped the "draft" and it became an N router. Did you get the sense that this is likely or are early adopters basically SOL?
I had no discussions about this, specifically. But note the Beamforming announcements this year. Beamforming has been standardized in the 802.11ac spec. But it was not implemented in last year's routers.
It's possible that not all of last year's products will get Beamforming upgrades. And it is likely that new chipsets will be needed to enable Mu-MIMO (Multi-User MIMO).

So first-to-market draft 11ac routers will probably be compliant with the final 11ac spec, but they won't implement all features.

2. Additionally, what, if anything, can we expect on the wired side, since the gigabit ethernet ports are actually slower than the wireless interface (in theory)?
If you are thinking about 10GbE, forget it. Way too expensive and power hungry. Not an issue anyway, since the 1300 Mbps link rates result only in about 500 Mbps application level throughput...and that requires multiple simultaneous connections.

3. Finally, the draft-ac spec actually seems to indicate that given a proper 8 antenna setup and sufficient clients, we can actually hit a combined throughput (in an ideal scenario) of just under 7gbps. While I'm usually an early adopter, I'm thinking about waiting until the first generation of 8-antenna routers come about - is that likely to happen this year?
If you are referring to 4X4 gear, don't hold your breath. 4X4 takes up 160MHz of bandwidth, essentially all available 5 GHz channels, at least those available in consumer routers.

Comment concerns the Hypershop "iUSBPort" - I actually backed it on Kickstarter when it was called "CloudFTP". The problem has been that though it works as advertised, the support for the product is really lacking. I have no idea where to get firmware updates to fix small issues. I guess that's sort of the problem we always have, but just to keep in mind that as much fun as the wifi sharers are, even getting it from a relatively known OEM doesn't guarantee support - most unfortunate!
If you stick with the better known names, you will have a better chance. No guarantees, but a better chance. Seagate for sure sees money to be made. And don't forget D-Link's SharePort Go, now in its second iteration.

PS: Are you using the Republic Defy for a review or a personal phone? I was also thinking about going that way until I discovered Ting...
Personal phone. Suits me since I don't need much airtime. Main drawbacks are no SMS support over Wi-Fi (supposed to be coming "any time now". At CES I discovered that MMS isn't supported at all, so no sending pictures phone-to-phone via text. Of course you can always email pix. Otherwise $22/mo (including taxes) for all-you-can-eat talk,data and text is the right price for me.
 

Latest threads

Sign Up For SNBForums Daily Digest

Get an update of what's new every day delivered to your mailbox. Sign up here!
Top