Digital Home Thoughts: Draft 802.11n Wireless Standard Passed

"The IEEE on Thursday approved the first draft of a proposal for the 802.11n wireless standard at a meeting in Hawaii. Last week, the group set aside the last of their differences, adopting a proposal put forth by the Enhanced Wireless Consortium, a interest group headed by Atheros, Broadcom and Intel. While it is not final just yet, chipmakers will likely begin to rush out chipsets compatible with the soon-to-be standard. However, the IEEE warns that until 802.11n is finalized, the products carry no guarantee of interoperability. Broadcom and Marvell have already announced chips based on the draft, with Broadcom saying its products would be upgradeable in case of any changes in the final revision. The first 802.11n chips could be released by the end of this quarter, Marvell said."

Finally. I have been using 802.11 Pre-N for just over a year now and have been so happy with it. Connecting at just over 100Mbps wirelessly really makes life wonderful. I can video chat or VOIP chat over MSN very nicely and have had great flexibility with the added range. And 802.11n is going to be even better. According to tests, data rates of up to 600 MBps could be expected. 802.11n devices would also be backwards compatible with the earlier 802.11a, b and g specifications. And we had reported earlier how Intel is already geting chips with 802.11n built in, ready. So this is great news all round.