Linksys agrees with Jobs

jeb1138

jeb1138

Carioca
Linksys has begun shipping 802.11g (a.k.a. Airport Extreme) products and has posted this rundown of the 3 wireless technologies out there: 802.11b, a and g.

http://linksys.com/edu/wirelessstandards.asp

Of course, Linksys sells 802.11a products so they can't bash it much, but I think the chart makes it pretty clear that 802.11a is going to "go away" like Jobs said in his keynote, don't you thnk?
 
Hard to say about 'a' going away since it has two major advantages over 'b', speed and spectrum. Now 'g' addresses the speed issue, but it is still stuck in the 2.4ghz spectrum along with everything else. So if you are trying to get things working in a "noisy" environment and need performance, 'a' is still, and for the forseable future, the way to go. Remember, the stuff crowded around the 2.4ghz frequencies only gets larger by the day (Bluetooth, cordless phones, wireless video transmitters, ALL of which I have floating around in my house). What REALLY sucks is the utter lack of support by third parties for 'a' products for the Mac. Very annoying.
 
i would say "a" is going away, and fast... look at its range... 25-75 feet indoors. "b" and "g" have a range of 100-150 feet indoors. I could never get close to 100 feet with my Airport, and I would assume the numbers for "a" are juiced a little as well. So a range of less than 25 feet... I have no use for that. I don't know many people who do. Factor in its incompatibility with "b" and "g" and you can see its definately done for. There weren't many products that used it in the first place, and I can almost garuantee you no new products will be made using the current "a" standard. Shorter range, higher cost, fewer products, incompatibility = death.
 
Originally posted by mightyjlr
i would say "a" is going away, and fast... look at its range... 25-75 feet indoors. "b" and "g" have a range of 100-150 feet indoors.
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Yeah. Make me wonder, in a noisy environment, which would really end up having a shorter range -- "g" from interference or "a" from it's shorter base range. I'd be willing to bet that noise won't be a big enough problem for enough people to keep the standard alive, especially since interference is the only thing "a" has going for it. Don't know though. binarydigit -- have you had real problems connecting form interference? Has anyone else? I've really never noticed anything, but I hope I never do.
 
Originally posted by jeb1138
Yeah. Make me wonder, in a noisy environment, which would really end up having a shorter range -- "g" from interference or "a" from it's shorter base range. I'd be willing to bet that noise won't be a big enough problem for enough people to keep the standard alive, especially since interference is the only thing "a" has going for it. Don't know though. binarydigit -- have you had real problems connecting form interference? Has anyone else? I've really never noticed anything, but I hope I never do.
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At home it takes me 2 base stations (2nd airport, and linksys router) to cover my entire house (large house). We have 4 2.4 ghz phones in my house, 2 microwave ovens, and a wireless video camera. I have the origional generation Ti Powerbook (worst reception of any notebook), and I get good data rates anywhere in the house. At school, they have a campus wide wireless network set up, and I do mean CAMPUS wide. I can get a signal anywhere on Campus, (urban campus). I even get a signal 2 blocks down the street at a gas station. I don't know what kind of equipment they use, but it is amazing, and makes life soooooo much easier for me.

Note: (both wireless networks are "b")
 
Actually yes I do. Both a friend and I have similar issues and it deals specifically with the wireless video transmitters. Now in both our cases the transmitters are located in the same room as the base stations, and moving them does help. Actually here it's the case where the AP messes up the video more than any discernable interference to the AP from the transmitter.

I suspect that many people don't see a consistent problem because of the nature of the other 2.4ghz devices they own. How often is someone on the phone while you're surfing, how frequently is that wireless video camera going (and I've never heard of anyone having any issues with a microwave).

One interesting thought is that why can't 'a' be upgraded in the same way that 'g' was? What's to stop them from introducing 'm' that is backwards compatiable with 'a' and operates at a full 100Mb? Is the 2.4ghz performance tapped out, or are higher rates still attainable.

One last thought, has anyone seen any real world data rate comparisons yet? i.e. is 54Mb 'g' the same as 54Mb 'a' and how does distance affect 'g' performance (it would be funny if 54Mb was only attainable up to distances of 25ft ;)

So you guys go ahead and sing the death knell for 'a', in the mean time I'll happily burn files from my laptop (pc since no one supports the Mac on 'a') on my desktop machine over 'a', not to mention doing some serious file work. You guys are going to love the performance of having 54Mb, kicks 11Mb but big time.
 
Well, speaking of Linksys, I have a beef.

I have their wireless Access point (WAP11) and it works fairly well, alhtough I wish I could configure it through USB but there is NO MAC software.

I recently added a Linksys wireless PC card in my wife's laptop (HP running XP). THE RANGE SUCKS!!! It does not even compare to what I get with my Airport card in my Pismo Powerbook.

I get 4/4 Airport lines in my bedroom upstairs, and ZERO connection with the Linksys card.

Does anybody know of another 802.11b PC card that would do better?

(No wonder I'll stick with Macs 'til I die).
 
Pcouture,

Take a look at cisco's wireless card(aironet 350). They are a bit more expensive then the regular cards, but I have had nothing but the best experiences with them. There are OSX drivers and software.

Anyone have anything different to say about them? My mac is wireless all the time and I have never had a problem with these cards.
 
I'm looking for a card for the XP laptop, since my Mac has an Airport card, but I will deifinitely lookt at it.

Domeone told me the Airport cards are better since they are dual band, which most other cards aren't.

I decided to install the Airport card for two reasons:

1. It takes advantage of the built-in antenna through a connectore inside.

2. It keeps the PC card slot on my PB free.

Thanks again... anyone else with add'tl info on this?
 
Altho I have no laptops - but since I'm a tech and computers keep playing "musical tech bench", I'm seriously thinking of getting a wireless network going for my lower-end systems that don't need high-bandwidth of the 100BaseT Ethernet. But I always felt 11Mbs was just too fregging slow!

Now and 802.11G Router for under $150? That's great! Combine that with a few PCI Cards, say around $300 to get started? Not too bad at all!

Hopefully they'll make USB(Firewire?) versions and I'll be all set! :D

But the only down side is - why 2.4Ghz for crying out loud??? EVERYTHING wireless is on 2.4Ghz... that sucks! I was looking at this great phone I wanted that uses 2.4Ghz - but either Phone or Fast-Speed Wireless.... grrr :mad:
 
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