NOVEMBER 2007 MAXIMUMPC 57
We’re still months away from a final IEEE 802.11n standard,
but the clouds over the latest draft are finally dissipating—
and we have future-compatible hardware in hand
outer manufacturers have behaved like deluded prophets for the last
three years, shouting, “The N is near! The N is near!” to any customer
willing to give them the time of day. We’ve looked at a number of pre-N
and draft-N products but haven’t issued a fi rm “buy” recommendation because
we couldn’t be sure these products would be compatible with the fi nal standard.
It’s taken IEEE members much longer than anyone could have imagined to
agree on a fi nal 802.11n standard; in fact, they still haven’t settled all the details.
But the Wi-Fi Alliance has reversed its previous stance and decided that 802.11n
draft 2.0 is close enough that they can begin certifying chipsets and fi nal products.
Products bearing the alliance’s Wi-Fi Certifi ed 802.11n draft 2.0 logo have
been tested for interoperability (meaning your network won’t be limited to prod-
ucts from a single vendor), support for the WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access)
security protocol, and backward compatibility with any 802.11a/b/g products
that the alliance has previously certifi ed.
The 802.11n draft 2.0 standard makes some big promises, including
faster speeds, greater range, and much improved security. Do the lat-
est routers and adapters live up to the hype? We torture-test fi ve
contenders to fi nd out.BY MICHAEL BROWN