What's Next After 25 Years Of Wi-Fi?

Megalith

Megalith

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It’s been 25 years since the inception of IEEE 802.11. This interview sheds a little light into the future of the technology, such as the 60 GHz range, which could provide throughput of up to 20 Gb/s.

The IEEE 802.11 wireless technology standard has come a long way since it first originated from a working group meeting in September 1990. Early Wi-Fi supported data rates of just 2 megabits per second. By comparison, the latest Wi-Fi standard supports 3,500 times faster data rates, ranging up to 7 gigabits per second.
 
60ghz is for line of sight (e.g. wireless replacement for cables).

The amount of power you would need to get a 60ghz signal to go any distance (and especially walls) would probably give you cancer.
 
No matter what frequency they end up using, the biggest issue I see is the need for more channels to avoid crosstalk and to finally retire the 2.4ghz spectrum. 802.11N and 802.11ac 5ghz solves most of this, but all the routers out there tend to default to the crowded 2.4ghz spectrum and average joe has no clue how they work.

Perhaps they need to take a page out of cellular tech for the next iteration. Cell towers handle hundreds, possibly thousands of connections at once and at high speeds.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
No matter what frequency they end up using, the biggest issue I see is the need for more channels to avoid crosstalk and to finally retire the 2.4ghz spectrum. 802.11N and 802.11ac 5ghz solves most of this, but all the routers out there tend to default to the crowded 2.4ghz spectrum and average joe has no clue how they work.

Perhaps they need to take a page out of cellular tech for the next iteration. Cell towers handle hundreds, possibly thousands of connections at once and at high speeds.
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Wif-Fi usues OFDM and LTE (at least on the downlink portion) uses OFDMA, so they are fairly closely related already. Spectrum, penetration (higher frequencies have a tougher time), and transmit power levels become real big issues.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
Perhaps they need to take a page out of cellular tech for the next iteration. Cell towers handle hundreds, possibly thousands of connections at once and at high speeds.
Click to expand...

They already do. TDMA is how Bluetooth and WiFi can coexist in the same frequency for example. N and AC also uses other tech like OFDMA and more. Remember, you can do things to reduce crosstalk, not completely eliminate it.
 
flashoverride said:
Wif-Fi usues OFDM and LTE (at least on the downlink portion) uses OFDMA, so they are fairly closely related already. Spectrum, penetration (higher frequencies have a tougher time), and transmit power levels become real big issues.
Click to expand...

Ryokurin said:
They already do. TDMA is how Bluetooth and WiFi can coexist in the same frequency for example. N and AC also uses other tech like OFDMA and more. Remember, you can do things to reduce crosstalk, not completely eliminate it.
Click to expand...
I'm talking about the ability to handle hundreds of connections at once, all on the same frequencies. I also understand they are somewhat related already.

Maybe I should re-phrase that statement. Instead of taking a page from cellular tech, they need to be taking several chapters. :D
 
Wait, 25 years? That would be 1990... pretty sure my Commodore 64 didn't have Wifi.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
I'm talking about the ability to handle hundreds of connections at once, all on the same frequencies. I also understand they are somewhat related already.

Maybe I should re-phrase that statement. Instead of taking a page from cellular tech, they need to be taking several chapters. :D
Click to expand...

This is really simplifying it, but it's largely is an issue of power and interference. Your wifi has to cover at the most 1000 feet and deal with 10 different networks and countless devices that can interfere. While a tower has to cover on the average 10 square miles, and the biggest cause of interference is buildings.

Burticus said:
Wait, 25 years? That would be 1990... pretty sure my Commodore 64 didn't have Wifi.
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The technology actually goes back to the mid 80s and was originally created by NCR for wireless cash registers. The IEEE is counting from when put it up as a standard. Consumer wise, it wasn't available until around 1997. I remember reading a article about it in wired around then
 
Ryokurin said:
The technology actually goes back to the mid 80s and was originally created by NCR for wireless cash registers. The IEEE is counting from when put it up as a standard. Consumer wise, it wasn't available until around 1997. I remember reading a article about it in wired around then
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We started doing large scale roll outs in 1999 here once the 802.11b standards and cards were available. Before that, it was kind of crap and wasn't really widely used.
 
Yes, retire the obsolete spectrums. hueheheh

When people stopped using 900mHz, it became a great frequency for obscure WISPs. Not just because no one used it, but also the coverage and penetration was great compared to higher frequencies.
 
Exactly, they should stop with the "25 years", as almost no consumers were using it even 15 years ago.
 
timta2 said:
Exactly, they should stop with the "25 years", as almost no consumers were using it even 15 years ago.
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Almost no? I don't know. Few for sure, especially since at the time a lot of the WiFi cards were PCMCIA for mobile devices which were not very refined but we had over 15% initial adoption rate in the first month with a user base in the 5,000ish range. For the time, I don't think that was bad.
 
why not focus oh greater lossless compression and tighter security.
 
If you offered the average consumer 2 options, one being speed and the other security they are going to say "my WiFi IS secure, bring on the speed!". Average Joe wants the numbers.

Been like this for decades lol.
 
timta2 said:
Exactly, they should stop with the "25 years", as almost no consumers were using it even 15 years ago.
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You do realize that technology is usually out quite a while before it becomes consumer grade? Just because it isn't in the consumer market doesn't mean it isn't heavily used. WiFi in the 900mhz band was heavily used in hospitals and patient monitoring long before silly consumer routers.
 
Ryokurin said:
The technology actually goes back to the mid 80s and was originally created by NCR for wireless cash registers. The IEEE is counting from when put it up as a standard. Consumer wise, it wasn't available until around 1997. I remember reading a article about it in wired around then
Click to expand...

Isn't calling it 25 years old like basing someone's age on when their parents first decided to try and have kids rather than the actual birthdate?
 
griffinhart said:
Isn't calling it 25 years old like basing someone's age on when their parents first decided to try and have kids rather than the actual birthdate?
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No, see above your post. There was wireless deployment in the business though mostly medical and military back in 1990.
 
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