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First 802.11n Products Show Standard's Promise.

Article Excerpt
Some of the first products based on 802.11n show the wireless standard's performance potential--and problems.

During eWEEK Labs' tests, Linksys products based on Version 1.0 of the 802.11n draft standard were indeed fast--faster than anything we've tested to date--but issues with range and interference with legacy wireless networks show room for improvement.

The IEEE 802.11n standard promises massive increases in aggregate wireless throughput and range through the use of MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) spatial multiplexing techniques. The standard calls for link rates of 150M and 300M bps, which could translate to as much as 150M bps of real throughput capacity.

The current draft of the 802.11n standard was approved for letter ballot in March; the full standard is expected to be ratified by the second quarter of 2007.

We tested Linksys' new WRT300N Wireless-N Broadband Router ($149) and the WPC300N Wireless-N Note-book Adapter ($119), both of which became available April 24. Both the router and notebook adapter feature three integrated antennae and support 40MHz channels for increased throughput performance.

eWEEK Labs analysts discuss the 802.11n draft wireless technology.

Click here [link omitted] to listen to the podcast.

The Linksys products we tested are based on Broadcom's Intensifi chip set. However, Linksys officials said they typically move so many wireless products each month that chip-set availability is a problem, so they will also be releasing draft 802.11n products based on chip sets from Atheros and Marvell.

Mike Hurlston, vice president and general manager for Broadcom's Wireless LAN Division, claims that the Intensifi chips will support the 5GHz band, but none...

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