SmallNetBuilder's Wireless FAQ: The Essentials

[thiggins]

SmallNetBuilder's Wireless FAQ: The Essentials

See an error? Want a different FAQ? Let me know.

 

[grantc]

Hi Tim,

Nice FAQ - regarding the inability to lay cable for HD streaming when wireless is not up to scratch, perhaps it's worth mentioning PowerLine ethernet? I gather it's not so popular in the US but I recently picked up a couple of Devolo 200Mbps adapters which seem to do the job.

Keep up the good work

grant

 

[DonB]

Great FAQ!

I always believed N improved range - and in my case when I switched from G to N I did get better coverage in previously weak wares but perhaps my N router has better antennas.

 

[zzing123]

Good work!

Here are a couple of other (industry related) questions:

1) Since 802.11n took so long to be ratified, why haven't multi-stream capable products released after the standard was ratified been available from a variety of vendors?

2) Why is it only this year that we will see full-featured 600mpbs products (ie all the 'options') being utilized, when they had all the time during the draft process to engineer these products?

3) Why are there so few dedicated Access Points available and the vast majority having routers tacked onto them as well? It's plainly clear that to boost wireless performance we need several AP's around the house, so why are so few vendors creating consumer Access Point gear?

 

[thiggins]

1) Since 802.11n took so long to be ratified, why haven't multi-stream capable products released after the standard was ratified been available from a variety of vendors?

Not sure what you mean. Please restate the question.

2) Why is it only this year that we will see full-featured 600mpbs products (ie all the 'options') being utilized, when they had all the time during the draft process to engineer these products?

Market demand for one thing. We will probably see general-purpose three stream (450 Mbps max. link rate) products this year. The four-stream (600 Mbps) products will most likely be application-specific, with optimizations for media streaming.

3) Why are there so few dedicated Access Points available and the vast majority having routers tacked onto them as well? It's plainly clear that to boost wireless performance we need several AP's around the house, so why are so few vendors creating consumer Access Point gear?

Consumer networking vendors have tried access points in the past and found them to be not big sellers. Most homes don't have the Ethernet cabling in place to make multi-AP installations common, either. There are plenty of inexpensive routers that even have AP modes.

The real question is why the consumer marketers haven't tried mesh technology. Part of the problem is lack of a standard. But they haven't let lack of standards stand in the way in the past!

 

[ozinca]

Wireless N HD Streaming

No argument from me on streaming HD wirelessly. I have tried virtually every solution in the market and they are all hopeless.

Would be keen to get you take on the new WNHDB3004?

Are u getting this in the lab soon?

 

[thiggins]

No argument from me on streaming HD wirelessly. I have tried virtually every solution in the market and they are all hopeless.

Would be keen to get you take on the new WNHDB3004?

Are u getting this in the lab soon?

Not anytime soon. Product isn't scheduled to be released until 3Q and I expect that will be LATE, not early 3Q, if at all.

I was impressed by Quantenna's technology, which is inside the product, though. 2010: The Year of HD Streaming Wirelessly? Part 2

 

[kevinqian]

The new WNHDB3004 seems like the same as the old 111 you reviewed a year ago. Still 5ghz band only, 300mbps, 10/100 ethernet. What did they change? I guess the 4x4 mimo will give better coverage than 3x3mimo assuming you have clients with 4x4 mimo antennas?

 

[thiggins]

The new WNHDB3004 seems like the same as the old 111 you reviewed a year ago. Still 5ghz band only, 300mbps, 10/100 ethernet. What did they change? I guess the 4x4 mimo will give better coverage than 3x3mimo assuming you have clients with 4x4 mimo antennas?

Nope. It's a totally different animal. See the article I linked above.

 

[kevinqian]

Nope. It's a totally different animal. See the article I linked above.

The article you linked to did not mention any Netgear stuff but the Quantanna has 4x4mimo. The netgear presser was very vague on specifics, whether it has 300mbps or 450mbps. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it's 450mbps. Although, technically a 4x4 mimo can have 4 stream 600mbps, but i doubt it. What are your thoughts?

 

[thiggins]

The article does say that NETGEAR will be using the Quantenna technology. It also explains the reason for the 300 Mbps spec using 4x4 MIMO.

 

[kevinqian]

dohh, how i missed the details! So it will be a bonded 300mbps link, kinda like a RAID array for hdd with double redundancy.

I guess that's why Netgear is marketing the 3004 as a pair and can't be bought separate, because you need to have 4x4 mimo to take advantage of what it has to offer.

 

[bukzin]

I saw comments regarding Netmeter.


Do you still like it?

Does it run on iOS?

Thx

 

[stevech]

No argument from me on streaming HD wirelessly. I have tried virtually every solution in the market and they are all hopeless.

Would be keen to get you take on the new WNHDB3004?

Are u getting this in the lab soon?

I've long used MoCA for reliable IP data/streaming. Works well.

 

[RogerSC]

I've long used MoCA for reliable IP data/streaming. Works well.

Almost a 4 year-old posting that you're responding to *smile*. Probably have solved their streaming problem by now.