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802.11n%20router.JPG A study published by ABI Research Friday predicts that consumer-electronics devices will kill all flavors of Wi-Fi, save 802.11n.

The argument goes like this: CE makers want to route video around the home. Since 802.11n is the highest through-wall wireless implementation available today (ultrawideband is a single-room solution, remember) CE makers will quickly latch onto 802.11n as the preferred distribution method. This, in turn, will force virtually all networking devices in the home to support the technology. The money stat: ABI predicts 216 million 802.11n chipsets being targeted towards consumer electronics devices by 2011.

Makes sense to us. Then again, when have consumers preferred slower speeds to faster? Generally, only when lower power is concerned, which doesn't come into play here. Although there is one exception: 802.11a, which has been derided as a failed technology. (A sidebar of this Processor.com article argues that this is false, and why.)

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Posted by: Jeff
November 11, 2007 10:40 AM

802.11n will not "kill all flavors of Wi-Fi" since the 802.11n standard requires backward compatibility with 802.11a and 802.11b/g. Essentially, 802.11n is just a technique for combining multiple channels of 802.11a or 802.11g. Which, in my opinion, is going to cause many problems when people start implementing 802.11n radios because they transmit on two A or two G frequencies and will double the number of talkers on each frequency.


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