Why You Should Wait for 802.11n

If you have a laptop computer or if you have connected your Tivo or Xbox 360 to your home wireless network, you already know the joys and frustrations of "Wi-Fi," wireless networking that uses the official Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' [IEEE] 802.11 specifications. Over the next few months you are going to hear a lot about something called "802.11n," a new wireless networking standard with maximum throughput speeds of 550 Mbit/s, 100 times faster than current 802.11b and ten times faster than current 802.11a or 802.11g wireless networks. You may even be tempted to go out and purchase a new 802.11n wireless card or router. DON'T DO IT! At least not yet.

Why? Well, the 802.11n standard DOESN'T EXIST and won't exist until July 2007 at the earliest. No, really. The only thing that exists right now is a DRAFT of what MAY eventually become a standard, but on May 2nd the IEEE 802.11 Working Group voted NOT to forward that draft on for final ratification. At least not yet. First, the Working Group has to review the TWELVE THOUSAND comments the draft has generated. After the review is complete, there is a chance the draft will be ratified without any noteworthy changes at all, there is a chance [albeit a slight chance] the draft will be extensively rewritten before it is ratified, and there is even a chance [again, albeit a slight chance] that 802.11n draft may NEVER be ratified as a standard.

Ars Technica has the full story at http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060521-6879.html

Long story short: 802.11n ain't done. Of course, that hasn't stopped computer and wireless networking manufacturers from offering "pre-N" or "Draft 802-11n" compliant networking cards and routers. My suggestion? Avoid these products like they were covered with monkey pox. There is no guarantee that any "pre-N" products you buy today will be fully upgradeable to the real 802.11n standard when [and if] it is ratified. Wait for the *REAL* 802.11n hardware to come out in 2007 ... or 2008 ... or 2009.

But that's just my opinion.