# A new, faster version of Wi-Fi was officially rubber-stamped Wednesday



## netnub (Jun 20, 2013)

http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/19/technology/mobile/wifi-speeds/

The latest Wi-Fi technology, called "802.11ac," offers speeds of up to 1.3 Gigabits per second. That's fast enough to transfer an entire high-definition movie to a tablet in under 4 minutes, share photo albums with friends in a matter of seconds or stream three HD videos at the same time. It's more than double the top speed of the previous standard, known as 802.11n.



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Those speeds are theoretical maximums -- very few people have anything close to 1 Gigabit speeds from their home broadband connection. Average speeds are less than 1% of that. But the faster speeds mean the new Wi-Fi standard will offer a much bigger pipeline for all those videos, songs and games that a growing number of people are streaming on multiple devices simultaneously.

The Wi-Fi Alliance, a global organization that ensures the interoperability of Wi-Fi technologies, began certifying so-called "ac" devices Wednesday. It kicked off the certification program by signing off on 19 routers, access points, microchips and smartphones. The shortlist of certified devices includes the Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and routers from Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500) and Netgear (NTGR).

Related story: Cisco plans to double the speed of the Internet

Shipments of ac Wi-Fi devices began last year, but they remain very hard to find. The Wi-Fi Alliance believes that the start of its ac certification program will get the ball rolling quickly.

"Usually, our certification programs serve as one of the contributing factors to widespread market adoption," said Kelly Davis-Felner, the Wi-Fi Alliance's director of program management. "But already, this feels like a much more accelerated adoption than in years past."

A recent ABI Research forecast predicts that 40% of smartphones will support the newer version of Wi-Fi this year. By next year, the Wi-Fi Alliance expects ac devices to make up the majority of the Wi-Fi market. Even Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), typically a late adopter with new technologies, has announced that its future products will feature ac Wi-Fi connectivity.

The new Wi-Fi standard comes at a crucial time: The average number of Wi-Fi devices in U.S. households has doubled since 2008, with each home averaging four devices connected to the Wi-Fi network during peak usage times.


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## Mun (Jun 20, 2013)

Actually Apple has always pushed new Wifi standards and usually the quickest of any provider, FYI.

Mun


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## D. Strout (Jun 20, 2013)

802.11ac is hardly "new". It's been available for at least a few months now. Same as 802.11n - routers had it before the Wi-Fi alliance certified it. If only it worked that way with useful new drugs and the FDA.


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## concerto49 (Jun 20, 2013)

Mun said:


> Actually Apple has always pushed new Wifi standards and usually the quickest of any provider, FYI.
> 
> Mun


And has caused lots of Macbook Airs to be returned. Another bug.


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## NodeBytes (Jun 21, 2013)

Just as I was installing my new 802.11n Cisco APs! Oh well, these things are fast as hell.


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## drmike (Jun 21, 2013)

About darn time.  

Question is what will these perform like in real world?


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## wdq (Jun 21, 2013)

Now we need 10Gbps to replace 1Gbps as the affordable standard for Ethernet.


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## Abdussamad (Jun 21, 2013)

1Gb/s isn't very fast for a LAN.


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## D. Strout (Jun 23, 2013)

buffalooed said:


> Question is what will these perform like in real world?


I'm curious how 801.11ac would pair with Google Fiber?


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## mitgib (Jun 24, 2013)

Abdussamad said:


> 1Gb/s isn't very fast for a LAN.


In what world?


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## Magiobiwan (Jun 24, 2013)

I wonder how good the backwards compatibility is with Wireless G, N, and even B devices is. I know my school still has about 15 OLD IBM thinkpads with Wireless B cards in them. And my laptop (and laptop turned desktop) only have Wireless G cards in them.


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## wdq (Jun 24, 2013)

Magiobiwan said:


> I wonder how good the backwards compatibility is with Wireless G, N, and even B devices is. I know my school still has about 15 OLD IBM thinkpads with Wireless B cards in them. And my laptop (and laptop turned desktop) only have Wireless G cards in them.


 

From my understanding 802.11ac runs on the same 5GHz waves as some 802.11n cards. Considering pretty much everything that supports 5GHz 802.11 supports 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n I imagine that these upcoming 802.11ac devices will be backwards compatible as well.


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## Abdussamad (Jun 24, 2013)

mitgib said:


> In what world?


In the world we all live in. Note I said LAN not WLAN. WLANs have to compete with wired LANs so they should be compared to wired ethernet speeds. gigabit ethernet is common place so wifi should be aiming higher than that.


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## Magiobiwan (Jun 24, 2013)

Wired will still be top in latency/stability. WLAN still has to share airwaves with other devices, while with Wired LAN it's a private cable.


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## sv01 (Jun 30, 2013)

that really fast, but only for few people in few country


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