anon
14.05.09, 18:34
The Wireless Gigabit Alliance wants to bring gigabit data rates to the 60GHz band, and it wants to have the spec ready this year. But this won't replace WiFi; in fact, it won't even go through walls.
The "cable-free living room" exists in the same futuristic space that holds the "paperless office" and the "coherent tax code"-and we'll believe in all of them just as soon as we see them. But a new consortium called the Wireless Gigabit Alliance says that it can help make the cable-free household a reality within the next few years by providing a wireless gigabit spec with enough bandwidth to transmit HD video.
The plan is like WiFi on steroids, and, just as with steroids, wireless gigabit comes with some serious drawbacks. These (fortunately) do not affect the gonads or cause 'roid rage, but they do mean that you won't likely be using wireless gigabit to transmit through walls. This is an in-room tech only, and therefore not a full replacement for the various WiFi specifications.
The group calls its work-in-progress "WiGig," which is sort of catchy and has the added benefit of making more sense than "Wireless Fidelity" ever did. WiGig will operate at 60GHz, which tells you all you need to know about its limitations. The recently-auctioned 700MHz spectrum is superb for TV transmission because the waves pass so easily through walls. WiFi began at 2.4GHz and then migrated to 5GHz, still good enough to fill a house. But WiGig jumps way up the spectrum ladder, which limits it to "gigabit speeds within a typical room."
WiFi goes gigabit... but it won't go through walls - Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/05/wifi-goes-gigabit-but-wont-go-through-walls.ars)
The "cable-free living room" exists in the same futuristic space that holds the "paperless office" and the "coherent tax code"-and we'll believe in all of them just as soon as we see them. But a new consortium called the Wireless Gigabit Alliance says that it can help make the cable-free household a reality within the next few years by providing a wireless gigabit spec with enough bandwidth to transmit HD video.
The plan is like WiFi on steroids, and, just as with steroids, wireless gigabit comes with some serious drawbacks. These (fortunately) do not affect the gonads or cause 'roid rage, but they do mean that you won't likely be using wireless gigabit to transmit through walls. This is an in-room tech only, and therefore not a full replacement for the various WiFi specifications.
The group calls its work-in-progress "WiGig," which is sort of catchy and has the added benefit of making more sense than "Wireless Fidelity" ever did. WiGig will operate at 60GHz, which tells you all you need to know about its limitations. The recently-auctioned 700MHz spectrum is superb for TV transmission because the waves pass so easily through walls. WiFi began at 2.4GHz and then migrated to 5GHz, still good enough to fill a house. But WiGig jumps way up the spectrum ladder, which limits it to "gigabit speeds within a typical room."
WiFi goes gigabit... but it won't go through walls - Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/05/wifi-goes-gigabit-but-wont-go-through-walls.ars)