# Wi-Fi's fast 802.11ac standard may pay off big in mobile



## TechSocial (Dec 20, 2011)

The emerging IEEE 802.11ac wireless LAN standard will be able to deliver faster connections wherever its used, but the biggest benefit may come at public hotspotseventually.

On Wednesday, the Wi-Fi Alliance started certifying pre-standard 802.11ac products for interoperability with other Wi-Fi gear. Assuming nothing unexpected happens in the standards process, that means all products the Alliance approves as 11ac gear will work with each other and with older versions of Wi-Fi.

The Wi-Fi Alliance claims 802.11ac can offer two or three times the speed users get on most of todays networks, though real-world results can vary because of a wide range of factors. A second wave of 802.11ac, which the group isnt certifying yet, is expected to offer even higher speeds.

The new standard boosts performance through several improvements, including wider channels and better modulation techniques. But one reason 802.11ac can go faster is that it operates only in the 5GHz spectrum band, which has more channels and less competition for airspace than the 2.4GHz band most frequently used in Wi-Fi.

The 5GHz band is nothing new in Wi-Fi, and manufacturers can implement it with the current 802.11n standard. But in handsets, they usually dont. The iPhone 5, with dual-band 802.11n, and Samsungs Galaxy S4, which already has prestandard 11ac built in, are exceptions. Even many laptops arent equipped to use the higher band, analysts say. Adding frequencies costs money, and device margins are slim.

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