Jan 14, 2006

Looks like 802.11n will soon be the new kid on the Wi-Fi block.

With Intel, Atheros, and Broadcom leading the charge, the Enhanced Wireless Consortium seems to have broken through the wireless stalemate between two competing standards known as the TGnSync and WWiSE proposals. Largely a compromise between TGnSync and WWiSE, the EWC proposal, if accepted, will officially become 802.11n and is poised to bring wireless speeds of up to 600Mbits/sec to a living room near you! Compare that to 802.11g which runs at a “wheezing” 54Mbits/sec – it’s over a 10X enhancement! While many manufacturers have been selling proprietary 802.11g equipment with throughput in excess of 54Mbits, most consumers have steered clear of these options from a fear of non-standards based technology and vendor lock in.

If all the “i”s are dotted and the “t”s are crossed, the compromise proposal will be offered to the IEEE on Jan. 16 at their meeting in Hawaii. According to MIMO + N News, that could mean that there will be 802.11n devices on the shelves as early as May or June!