WiFi > 5.4?

[Jeff]

What kind of WiFi can run at 6.5? It seems to be NetGear gear somewhere in the neighborhood that just recently went from 54 to 65 with no other reported change.

- Jeff

[sidney]

What kind of WiFi can run at 6.5? It seems to be NetGear gear somewhere in the neighborhood that just recently went from 54 to 65 with no other reported change.

The Netgear WPN824, as one example, uses an extension to 802.11g called MIMO which makes use of multipath signals (which usually act to to interfere with reception) to increase the effective signal and the bandwidth. They advertise the unit as having a maximum speed of 108Mbps. An interesting aspect of MIMO is that it has abosolutely no benefit in the open where there are no walls for the signal to bounce off of -- It behaves worst under the "best" conditions. The MIMO technology involves using several antennae and dynamically reconfiguring them depending on conditions. So the reported speed can change. Here's a CNet review (http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/netgear-wpn824-router/4505-3319_7-31312124.html#cnetReview)

[Dan in Saint Louis]

What kind of WiFi can run at 6.5? It seems to be NetGear gear somewhere in the neighborhood that just recently went from 54 to 65 with no other reported change.

65Mbps (bits) or 6.5MBps (bytes)?

[Jeff]

So the reported speed can change. Here's a CNet review (http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/netgear-wpn824-router/4505-3319_7-31312124.html#cnetReview)

Thanks Sidney. That has to be the router and something about its environment has changed, because inSSIDer reports no change other than speed. Maybe a "legacy" WiFi unit was taken off its network as they seem to bog it down.

- Jeff

[Jeff]

65Mbps (bits) or 6.5MBps (bytes)?

I've always thought in terms of bites. Keeping numbers under control by a factor of ten helps my head, and keeps decimals employed.

- Jeff