802.11.n Wireless Networking

802.11n is in the works. It is not ready yet. The minimum throughput requirement represents an approximate 4x leap in WLAN throughput performance compared to today's 802.11a/g networks.

Work on the 802.11n standard dates back to 2004. The draft is expected to be finalized in November 2008 with publication in July 2009, but major manufacturers are now releasing 'pre-N', 'draft n' or 'MIMO-based' products based on early specs. Cisco networks at a Mississippi conference last week mentioned a ready release may be more like two years out. The important thing to know now is it is coming, and it provides for much much faster wireless computing as you can see by the chart below.


Wireless LAN Throughput by IEEE Standard
IEEE Over-the-Air Media Access Layer
802.11b 11 Mbps 5 Mbps
802.11g 54 Mbps 25 Mbps (when .11b is not present)
802.11a 54 Mbps 25 Mbps
802.11n 200+ Mbps 100 Mbps

Table 1. Comparison of different 802.11 transfer rates. (Source: Intel Labs