dailywireless.org » Tim Higgins: New Thinking on Draft “N”

Tim Higgins: New Thinking on Draft “N”

Thinking of Upgrading to Draft 11n? Here’s What I’d Do…, suggests Tim Higgins, who is the widely acknowledged authority behind Small Net Builder

The bottom line is that I’m no longer recommending that you go for dual-band dual-radio products if you want to move now to draft 11n. The main reason is that the potential upside isn’t enough to justify the high cost, especially if you have a large installed base of 802.11b/g devices.

As I showed in this article, you’re likely to create more problems than you’ll solve by trying to run a mix of 11b/g and draft 11n devices on one router.

You might think that draft 11n products have longer range, and that’s just what manufacturers would like you to believe. But if you look carefully at their claims, they usually refer to “coverage”, with dimensionless charts that imply that you’ll be able to connect at a longer distance, but don’t provide any numbers to back up the implications.
A look at the charts above shows a more accurate comparison of the “range” performance of the four Wi-Fi technologies. If draft 11n products really provided longer range, their curves would end at a higher path loss value (lower signal level). But the data shows that they actually stay connected to similar signal levels. And, in some cases, the draft 11n products actually disconnect earlier than 11g and “enhanced” 11g products.
The bottom line is that I’m no longer recommending that you go for dual-band dual-radio products if you want to move now to draft 11n. The main reason is that the potential upside isn’t enough to justify the high cost. As I showed in this article, you’re likely to create more problems than you’ll solve by trying to run a mix of 11b/g and draft 11n devices on one router.