Wi-Fi consumers cautioned to wait on new gear

[D_o_S]

Two different groups testing new wireless products based on a draft standard of the next generation Wi-Fi technology caution consumers to hold off on buying pre-standard gear.

On Monday, the Fairpoint Group and the technology trade publication eWeek released results of tests conducted on new products using draft versions of the 802.11n standard. While eWeek's assessment is not nearly as negative as the analysis of the testing from the Fairpoint Group, both groups said they felt it was still too soon for consumers to buy products using 802.11n.

What the Fairpoint Group found during the testing was that the Linksys SRX400, which uses Airgo's third-generation MIMO technology that isn't compliant with the draft version of 802.11n, offered higher throughput at longer distances than all three of the other products tested, which used draft N technology.

eWeek tested Linksys' new WRT300N Wireless-N Broadband Router and the WPC300N Wireless-N Note-book Adapter, which both use Draft 802.11n chip technology from Broadcom. The article said Linksys' draft 802.11n gear was the fastest wireless equipment at short distances the magazine had tested to date, "besting even a pair of products based on Airgo's Gen 3 True MIMO chipset."

But when it came to long distances, a key reason for developing the 802.11n standard, eWeek, like The Fairpoint Group, found gear based on the draft standard fell short. eWeek said that performance at 50 feet lagged considerably when compared with the products using Airgo chips.

There are other problems with the technology, you can read about them here.

Source: C|Net News