If you're growing tired of one
delay after
another (and
another), and just can't wait to get in on that uber-quick 802.11n goodness, NEC has unveiled a few pieces of
draft-spec kit that should hold you over until the
IEEE finally agrees on a winner. Its Aterm WR8200N router is based on the latest (albeit not yet
finalized) next-gen wireless protocol, and claims to not
interfere with 802.11b/g networks while offering theoretical speeds of "up to 130Mbps." Aside from sporting backwards compatibility with the slower WiFi standards, a trio of antennas are available for "maximum range," while four Ethernet ports are onboard for those who prefer to stay wired. The company is also offering up an 802.11n-compatible PCMCIA card (WL130NC) for those folks not lucky enough to discover an
undercover edition already integrated in their machine. While
NEC seems to be playing the ever-elusive "open price" card, both of these units should be available in early November.
[Via
Akihabara News]
posted Oct 18th 2006 10:40AM
I have a question. Why do we care? 130Mps is great to bad I can't get but 2 Mps to my house making that extra 128 Mps wasted. So this is only useful for transfering info from computers hooked into the WAN. Pointless.
anyone know what the range of this device could be? I've heard varying things about the n standard. Could it work a mile away?
If my multi-antennaed draft-n "kit" is any indication, the only thing you could do a mile away from it is be thankful it wasn't f'ing up any of bit-torrent traffic. Belkin's pre-n router was a couplete waste of money, and I'm staying away from any router from here on in that a) isn't to a ratified standard, and b) doesn't have a bevy of tests run against it for me.
are you seriously asking if could work an entire mile away, 5280 feet? i dont even know what to say.
PCMCIA?!? Who still uses PC Cards, they should release an Expresscard version first.
anyone know the significance of the 3 antennas and not two like on g?
I think they've still got some work left on the unit. if they focus really hard they might be able to make it a little bit uglier but it's going to take some fancy engineering...
ra ra ra... wake me when the FTTH or ADSL that can actually deliver 100Mbps comes out.
Until then these pre-n routers increase the already-fastest link in the chain, while leaving the actual bottleneck unchanged.
The reason I am not buying one is that all laptops that then want to access this gloriously fast network need special pre-n cards in them. Of course they are backwards compatible, but if you access them with plan 'ole 802.11b/g you lose any speed advantage