802.11ac?

[forumuser]

Hello all,
Was curious as to your opinion of 802.11ac, and how long it'll take for consumer devices to pick up on it. It seems to be a bit different than the adoption of N, where there were devices that had it in draft form before it was even finalized.

 

[imagoon]

There are already 802.11ac draft gear floating out there. Asus RT-AC66U is a random example. I am waiting for non draft before I make any decisions on it. To many time I have had an "awesome wireless experience" until the neighbor's phone rings or they start the microwave.

 

[drebo]

802.11ac doesn't fix the main issue that's keeping wireless back: simplex communications.

So, while it may be great in a home or place with only a few devices, it's still hamstrung in comparison to wired communication in any place where throughput and latency actually matter from an efficiency and productivity standpoint.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Ive always wondered why wireless standards dont allow for duplex operation with say 2.4 one way and 5ghz the other? Wouldnt this help things?

 

[drebo]

Ive always wondered why wireless standards dont allow for duplex operation with say 2.4 one way and 5ghz the other? Wouldnt this help things?

It would, but only for links between two devices. In fact, this is how high end wireless backhaul links work. You have a low frequency and a high frequency and they're both used for duplex operation. But, that's only between two endpoints.

When you expand to multipoint wireless, your limitation becomes that an antenna can only send or receive, and only to one client at a time. So, because of that, multipoint wireless (with current tech) will never be a duplex medium.

MIMO makes it so that more clients can send and receive simultaneously, but you're still not going to have two antennas for every single client on your multipoint wireless network. Until we can figure out how to make an antenna send and receive at the same time, multipoint wireless will always be simplex.