Agere Bringing 802.11g To Handheld Devices

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/4968.html">http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/4968.html</a><br /><br />"Component maker Agere Systems has announced a new small-form-factor 802.11g mobile Wi-Fi module specifically designed for handheld consumer devices. The embedded system-in-package (SiP) chip is expected to deliver up to 54 Mbps data transfer, while still running at very low power."<br /><br />It may be this kind of device that pushes me to replace my 802.11b network with the newer "g." Don't look for products before early 2005 though.

[szamot]

54 Mbps would be nice if PIE could handle it, considering what the current performance specs are for 11Mbps on a PPC I would not be holding my breath for any balzing speed on a PPC, unless of course the PPC gets properly fixed up to deal with this speed - that would be nice.

[gorkon280]

I already have updated to 802.11g and it's great. My AP operates in mixed mode so I can work with my pda as well. It's STILL faster on my mac then 802.11b. Reason I upgraded? I have a 12 inch powerbook with Airport Extreme and while I was happy with 802.11b before, my Mac for some odd reason could not work with my Linksys unless I throttled it down to only 1 MBps or 2 MBps connections. REALLY slow. I upgraded to a WRT54G and promptly dumped the stock firmware for the WiFi box firmware (Linux on this device is a damn fine idea). Only thing i have not tested yet is a VPN between the AP and my mac and my iPaq as well.

[Will T Smith]

http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/4968.html

"Component maker Agere Systems has announced a new small-form-factor 802.11g mobile Wi-Fi module specifically designed for handheld consumer devices. The embedded system-in-package (SiP) chip is expected to deliver up to 54 Mbps data transfer, while still running at very low power."

It may be this kind of device that pushes me to replace my 802.11b network with the newer "g." Don't look for products before early 2005 though.

This really won't help on PocketPC unless they integrate the chipset DIRECTLY onto the motherboard. The CF slot is too slow (SD is even SLOWER!!!!).

This will probably be helpful for ultra-portable notebooks though.

The "killer app" for wireless ethernet is INTERNET. Most people's internet connection doesn't come CLOSE to 11Mbs. So don't look for 11g service on PocketPC anytime soon.

[burtman007]

The "killer app" for wireless ethernet is INTERNET.

I wouldn't be so sure of that. In a manufacturing, or even some corporate business environments, remote administration is a pretty "killer app"...

[gorkon280]

This really won't help on PocketPC unless they integrate the chipset DIRECTLY onto the motherboard. The CF slot is too slow (SD is even SLOWER!!!!).

This will probably be helpful for ultra-portable notebooks though.

The "killer app" for wireless ethernet is INTERNET. Most people's internet connection doesn't come CLOSE to 11Mbs. So don't look for 11g service on PocketPC anytime soon.

Speak for yourself! We could use it in work places!

Anyway, this part is not in a CF card. It's everything you need for WiFi G on one chip except for an antenna. This is a part designed to be added to PPC and other embedded devices motherboards.

[ricksfiona]

I've installed 802.1g devices all over and it works fine with my iPAQ 5550. I don't see any kind of performance difference between 'g' and 'b' networks. It's more than fast enough to download e-mail in seconds.

With the 624Mhz chips coming out and VGA, having native 'g' compatibility could be really good. Think about streaming video on your PPC, video conferencing and even peer to peer voice chat.

Someone can make a really killer app. with the hardware that's coming out within the next year.

[Ed Hansberry]

I've installed 802.1g devices all over and it works fine with my iPAQ 5550. I don't see any kind of performance difference between 'g' and 'b' networks. It's more than fast enough to download e-mail in seconds.
That is because your 5500 is a "b" device. It works on "g" networks too, but only at "b" speeds. It also drags the "g" network down to "b" speeds. One of the benefits of getting "g" devices is they will not cause the faster networks to drop down to the slower speeds.

[mmidgley]

I chuckled a bit to myself when I saw this headline. Remember the recent study someone did on current pocketpc wifi (built-in or on a card) performance? Will we really get any more bits in and out of our handhelds wirelessly using 11g? Maybe it will feel faster since it won't drag down the rest of the 11g network like an 11b pocketpc does now...

m.