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View Full Version : 802.11n May Stomp on 802.11b/g Networks?


Jason Dunn
03-15-2006, 12:20 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/03/13/802_11n_backwards_compatibility_issues/' target='_blank'>http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/03/13/802_11n_backwards_compatibility_issues/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Airgo Networks took the occasion of last Friday's vote by the IEEE 802.11n Taskgroup to proceed to the "letter ballot" phase of the standardization process, to go public with the developing standard's little secret. The firm claims that the "802.11n Draft 1.0 does not provide for interoperability with nearby legacy 802.11b/g networks". "Specifically, if 'Draft N' or 'N Ready' products are released to market based on Draft 1.0 of the standard, they will severely degrade - or even disable - nearby 802.11b and 802.11g networks," Airgo said. The firm's announcement is the first public acknowledgment by a chipmaker of behavior that TomsNetworking documented two months ago in its review of Netgear's RangeMax 240. The Netgear product is based on Airgo's third-generation chipset that uses a 40 MHz wide band to achieve greater than 100 Mbps of application-level throughput."</i><br /><br />This is not good news at all. 8O I already have a lot of problems with wireless routers in my home because there are eight other networks within range, so I'm shuddering to think what will happen when an 802.11n router gets introduced into the mix. Although, now that I think about it more, I'll probably be the first one getting an 802.11n on my street, so I'll be the guy causing problems for everyone else. :devilboy:

jeffd
03-15-2006, 04:09 PM
Never has the devil smily ever been so accuratly used.

I dunno but I would think something like this could be illegal. Maybe no CURRENT laws cover it, but I can easily see lawsuits popping up left and right, and with all the commercial and industry use of b/g I can see judges siding with the consumer and buisness owners on this one.