Wireless-Nada
I've been holding back on revising my 2004 book Jeff Duntemann's Wi-Fi Guide for almost two years now, hoping for finalization of the IEEE 802.11n spec. It seems like we've had "Draft-N" products piled up in Best Buy since the glaciers retreated, and yet the specification seems no closer to its final form than it was when Zoser invented the pyramid.
Admittedly, it's a spec with sky-high aspirations, but the real problem now seems to be a recalcitrant Australian research consortium called CSIRO, which may or may not own patents that may or may not completely prevent the IEEE from nailing the spec before the glaciers come back.
So I've been thinking a lot about Wi-Fi recently. Some observations:
- Wireless-G works very well for what 80% of people do with it. G runs faster than any broadband connection I've ever seen, and Internet distribution is most of what Wi-Fi does.
- We are getting close to wireless saturation on 2.4 GHz. I recently popped my laptop open and did some warsitting. Without moving a wavelength, I saw four APs named "linksys," all operating on channel 6. (Those are the default SSID/channels for most Linksys Wi-Fi routers.) No matter what else it is, Wireless-N is a spectrum hog, and there will be RF fistfights galore when this thing hits the airwaves.
- Wireless-N has been touted as the solution to in-house HD video streaming, but with all those other APs within close range, I've got my doubts. Whereas you were a lonely Wi-Fi geek trendsetter at one time, those days are gone. Your neighbors all have APs now. (And all of them are named "linksys"!) Drop one or two nearby 2.4 GHz cordless phones into the mix, and watch your throughput plunge.
- No matter what the IEEE does, there's strong possibility that today's Draft-N hardware will be unable to work at full functionality with tomorrow's Wireless-N gear. It's not an easy spec to pull off, and small differences may pile up against you in subtle ways.
- Finally, if CSIRO prevails, Wireless-N gear will never get very cheap.
I recently fixed a Wi-Fi problem for Carol's sister...by dumping Wi-Fi. An intermittent and unidentified analog source on 2.4 GHz (which smelled to me like a neighbor's cordless phone) was forcing her connection to drop, so I went down to Best Buy and grabbed a pair of Linksys Powerline networking bricks, and the problem went and stayed away. Ironically, one of the things I have to add to the next edition of my book is how to determine when it's time to just give up on Wi-Fi and use another technology. Powerline works extremely well, and if all you're doing with Wi-Fi is hooking one or more desktops to a router elsewhere in your house, Wi-Fi is in many respects the least desirable way to do it. "Net rot" is real, and it can happen irrespective of anything you do with your own network.
So I'll be adding a chapter on Powerline technology as an adjunct or even a swap-out for Wi-Fi. And I will still be counseling against Draft-N. Wi-Fi is rapidly becoming the victim of its own overwhelming success.