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802.11 posts

ZyXEL's MWR222 Mobile Wireless Router will stop at nothing to get you connected

by Tim Stevens posted Nov 11th 2009 at 8:18AM

Finding connections on the road can be tough, but like a digital Sherpa ZyXEL's MWR222 will drag you straight to that bounteous broadband then sit by quietly while you take all the credit. It can act as a wired router, connecting to your DSL or cable line and beaming out 802.11g/b/n wireless, but also offers integrated 3G/4G support, meaning just about wherever and whenever you turn this on you should find a connection. It'll even keep track of your monthly wireless plan quota and help you avoid expensive charges. An integrated battery means completely wireless operation and a rugged design means it won't complain if you throw it in the bottom of your laptop bag when it ships sometime in Q1 of next year. That said, at $299 you probably won't want to be too rough with it.

Atheros brings 802.11n to cellphones with AR6003, is one antenna short of a pair

by Tim Stevens posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 7:51AM

Atheros brings 802.11n to cellphones, is one antenna short of a pair

802.11n is a wonderful thing, providing 144Mbps bandwidth and reliable connections over impressive distances, but part of that wonder comes thanks to a reliance on dual antennas. Twice the antennas means twice the streams (MIMO, ya dig?), but Atheros has decided to ditch one for its new mobile-friendly AR6003 chip. It's a power-saving move called "one-stream 11n," and while we've seen it before that doesn't mean we have to like it. Atheros's solution provides a maximum throughput of 85Mbps, which is frankly nothing to shake a stick at, and despite that will suck down 20 percent less power than its earlier AR6002 802.11a/b/g chip. In other words, we'll rock it in our celly -- begrudgingly.

[Via Register Hardware]

Nokia vs. Apple: the in-depth analysis

by Nilay Patel posted Oct 29th 2009 at 11:00AM

There's just something about Apple that makes people go crazy whenever the company's lawyers do even the simplest things -- whether it's filing routine trademark oppositions, getting patents granted, or, uh, defending allegations that the company is in league with the Mafia, Steve and friends just seem to inspire some strong reactions whenever they end up in the courtroom. So of course things got a little wild last Thursday when Nokia announced it was suing Apple over ten patents related to GSM, UMTS (what you know as 3G) and WiFi -- the pundit class immediately set upon the idea that the lawsuit was some sort of reaction to Nokia's diminishing cellphone marketshare and the perceived dominance of the iPhone, perhaps best exemplified by John Gruber's flippant "If you can't beat 'em, sue 'em." Nokia can't compete against Apple, so obviously it's abusing the hopelessly-broken patent system get a little payback, Espoo-style -- right?

Well, wrong. As usual, the race to hype this dispute as a bitter standoff between two tech giants desperate to destroy one another has all but ignored the reality of how patents -- especially wireless patents -- are licensed, what Nokia's actually asking for, and how it might go about getting it. And as you know, we just don't do things that way, so we've asked our old friend Mathew Gavronski, a patent attorney in the Chicago office of Michael Best & Friedrich, to help us sort things out and figure out what's really going on here -- read on for more.

Continue reading Nokia vs. Apple: the in-depth analysis

Xbox 360 802.11n WiFi adapter floats through the FCC

by Thomas Ricker posted Sep 15th 2009 at 1:12AM

See those two antennas? They can only mean one thing: lickity-quick 802.11n WiFi on Microsoft's unannounced Xbox 360 adapter. Of course, the FCC label reads, "Xbox 360 wireless N networking adapter," leaving little doubt as to its purpose. A spec bump that should push the raw data rate to at least twice what you've seen on 802.11b/g networks while offering more options for placement thanks to improved range. What, you do have an 802.11n network at home, right? It's IEEE official now, you know?

Bugbase WiFi module threatened by large yellow antenna at FCC

by Tim Stevens posted Sep 1st 2009 at 8:56AM

When the Hiro P BUGbase from Bug Labs shipped last year it did so without 802.11, leaving this piece of homebrewers hardware sadly disconnected from the groovy microwaves all around it. That looks set to change in the very near future with the FCC testing of the BUGwifi module, an add-on announced way back in January then never heard from again. There's still no word on when we might expect this stubby open wundermodule to start hosting wireless Guitar Quake deathmetalmatches, but things usually don't take long once the FCC has done its deed.

Continue reading Bugbase WiFi module threatened by large yellow antenna at FCC

802.11n finalization just a formality, interoperability to be preserved

by Darren Murph posted Jul 27th 2009 at 3:56AM

C'mon, say it with us: "phew!" Considering that just about everyone has been shipping "802.11n" wireless kit since draft 2.0 was put into play two summers ago, we couldn't be more relieved to see the Wi-Fi Alliance confirm that it won't change the baseline requirements of its 802.11n certification program when the format gets certified this September. Just as we'd heard, the WiFi standard will leave its stagnant draft status and sashay into the wondrous realm of officialdom in merely two months, with the updated test program to "preserve interoperability with more than 600 Wi-Fi certified 802.11n draft 2.0 products released since June 2007, while adding testing for some optional features now included in the standard." Good thing, too -- can you imagine the uproar if your forthcoming 802.11n dongle wouldn't play nice with that draft-N router you snagged last June?

[Via Electronista]

802.11n should go final by September, just when it's starting to feel slow

by Darren Murph posted Jul 21st 2009 at 10:09PM

It's been a long, long... long time coming, folks. Since 2004, the world at large has been waiting for 802.11n to finally go legit, and while we've been getting along just fine with Draft-N devices, the IEEE is inching closer to completion of the final specification. According to Bob Heile, the chairman of the IEEE 802.15 working group on Personal Area Networks, "802.11 [has been] granted unconditional approval to forward 11n to RevCom," which is currently scheduled to take place on September 11th in New Jersey. He continued by uttering the understatement of the year with "this was an extremely complex project." We won't even bother retracing all the time line slips that we've seen over the years, but we can't help but chuckle at the notion of an ever faster 802.11 protocol to be discussed at the very same meeting. So, let's see here -- 802.11n finally gets its certificate of authenticity after parading around for half a decade as an unfinished draft, and CES 2010 brings about devices based on the even faster 802.11ac. Marvelous.

[Via Digg]

How-to: set up dual-band WiFi (and juice your downloads)

by Nilay Patel posted May 1st 2009 at 11:30AM

Yeah, we think you should make the switch.

Let's come right out with it -- you should be running a dual-band 2.4 and 5GHz WiFi network. Why? Because the 2.4GHz spectrum is cluttered with everything from other networks to Bluetooth to cordless phones and microwaves, and all that RF interference slows everything down, making file transfers interminable and HD streaming nearly impossible. On the other hand, 5GHz 802.11n is clean and incredibly fast -- we're talking almost hardwire fast. But you can't just move up to 5GHz without leaving your phones and other legacy devices behind, so you've got to keep 2.4 around as well -- which is really easy if you've got a simultaneous dual-band router like Apple's new Airport Extreme or something like the D-Link DIR-825, and only slightly harder if you don't. And, as luck would have it, Apple just sent us a new AEBS to play with, so we thought we'd show you how to configure both kinds of setups. We promise you'll thank us.

Continue reading How-to: set up dual-band WiFi (and juice your downloads)

CSIRO's patent lawsuits conclude with the final 13 companies settling

by Ross Miller posted Apr 22nd 2009 at 12:53AM

Looks like CSIRO's legal days are over -- for the moment, at least. Having already reached an agreement with HP, the Australian government-funded research firm announced this week that it's settled with the remaining 13 companies it sued for patent infringement, claiming it owned the rights to 802.11a/g. For those who haven't been keeping track at home, that includes Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Nintendo, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Netgear, Buffalo, D-Link, Belkin, SMC, Accton, and 3Com. The details of any of the settlements are undisclosed, but as iTnews reports, it's expected CSIRO ended up with some substantial monies now that the dust has settled. Chief Executive Dr. Megan Clark noted that it'll continue to "defend its intellectual property," so if you're a high profile tech company who creates WiFi-equipped gadgets and hasn't been served a lawsuit yet, we don't blame you for being a little nervous right now.

Bluetooth 3.0 + HS gets official, adds speed with 802.11

by Darren Murph posted Apr 21st 2009 at 2:00PM

The rumors were true, and today's the day that the Bluetooth SIG gets official with the latest, greatest version of Bluetooth. Bluetooth 3.0 + HS, as it'll be called, promises to be markedly faster than prior iterations thanks to the reliance on 802.11, which is the same protocol used by WiFi modules, routers, etc. The new standard obviously catapults Bluetooth into a new dimension; rather than being good for nothing more than sending images from one phone to another or syncing a fitness module to a DAP, v3.0 is nimble enough to handle camcorder-to-HDTV, PC-to-PMP and UMPC-to-printer transfers. In fact, the inclusion of the 802.11 Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) provides increased throughput of data transfers "at the approximate rate of 24Mbps." We had sit-downs with Mike Foley (executive director of the Bluetooth SIG) and Atheros CTO Bill McFarland in order to find out a few more details about plans for the protocol -- if you're eager to hear what they had to say, not to mention see a demonstration of BT 3.0 at work, follow us past the break.

Continue reading Bluetooth 3.0 + HS gets official, adds speed with 802.11

CSIRO settles patent lawsuit with HP, continues fight with everyone else

by Donald Melanson posted Apr 1st 2009 at 4:41PM

As anyone up on their patent fights these days is no doubt aware, Australia's CSIRO (or the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) has been engaged in a long-standing dispute with seemingly every company that makes use of WiFi in their products, and even the organization responsible for the 802.11 standard itself. Now, following a short lived victory against Buffalo, the group has reportedly reached a settlement in its lawsuit with HP, although all of the parties involved are unsurprisingly staying mum on any specifics for the time being. As Australia's Sydney Morning Herald notes, however, the settlement will no doubt give CSIRO a boost in confidence as it continues to challenge the remaining companies now entangled in lawsuits, which includes everyone from Microsoft to Dell to Nintendo, and free up a bit more time for the group to get back to creating even rounder objects and more stylish power-generating shirts.

[Thanks, Greg]

CarTel uses wardriving for science, better driving directions

by Samuel Axon posted Oct 10th 2008 at 10:49AM

If you're not satisfied with the driving directions you get on Google Maps, a few smart guys at MIT have created an elaborate new toy called CarTel just for you. They've equipped a fleet of Boston-area cars with computers that automatically connect to any 802.11 access points detected in transit, then send home data recorded by their on board diagnostic systems, all in just a few hundred milliseconds. The result: a website that gives you directions based on information gathered in real-time so you can avoid high-traffic areas or say, if it's raining, roads which have historically been congested in adverse weather conditions -- no GPS required. The project also keeps a record of all access points detected, so think of it as wardriving for the good of humanity -- and you (probably) wouldn't even get arrested for participating!

[Via PhysOrg]

802.11r WiFi roaming standard approved

by Nilay Patel posted Aug 29th 2008 at 2:03AM

While 802.11n has been stuck in endless certification hell for years, the IEEE keeps cranking out additional wireless standards -- the latest is 802.11r, which allows devices to move from access point to access point with less than 50ms in downtime, even for authenticated connections. That's quick enough to keep a voice call alive, which should make the next generation of VoIP phones and other devices that much more flexible when support arrives -- let's hope that's soon.

D-Link introduces DIR-628 sub-$100 5GHz-capable 802.11n router

by Nilay Patel posted Jun 23rd 2008 at 9:19PM

If you haven't made the leap to 802.11n (or, even better, 5GHz 802.11n), you might want to start holding on to that loose change -- you'll probably have enough by the end of the week to pick up D-Link's new DIR-628 router, which has an official MSRP of $119, but will sell at Best Buy for just $79. The dual-band router obviously isn't the most feature-packed unit out there, but in terms of straight connectivity, it'll get the job done as long as the firmware is reasonably stable -- and to be honest, that's all we really want a router to do. Should be out now -- we're telling you, 5GHz is freaking amazing.

[Via SmallNetBuilder]

$318 WiFi network bridge connects two locations up to 5 miles apart

by Darren Murph posted May 22nd 2008 at 1:06AM

If you've tried every antenna and extender on the market today with subpar results, HD Communications is apt to become your new best friend. The outfit has just revealed its HD26200, a "complete outdoor wireless network bridge in the 802.11b/g unlicensed 2.4GHz band that sells for only $318." Said device bridges wireless internet between two locales up to 5 miles apart without requiring a single RF cable, being that both Ubiquiti network radios are powered over Ethernet. If you're looking for the catch, the bridge does require a direct line of sight between the two locations, but the firm is reportedly looking to expand its non-line of sight family by the summer's end.