Wi-Fi HaLow: Long-Range, Low-Power Wi-Fi

IEEE 802.11ah’s throughput is only 100 Kb/s, but that’s because it’s meant for Internet-of-Things devices like household lights and sensors.

The Wi-Fi HaLow technology was designed to enable communications between devices at longer distances and/or in challenging environments (with many barriers) using relatively low amounts of power. The tech could challenge both Bluetooth and cellular networks eventually since it combines the best of both worlds: low power operation as well as relatively long range. Moreover, unlike Bluetooth and other short-range radio technologies, the 802.11ah can connect devices directly to the Internet.

IEEE haw! That would be really useful for smart home applications in a larger house.

Unlicensed 900Mhz spectrum is also used by garage openers, baby monitors, walkie talkies and toys. I wonder how "ah" will coexist with those.

I will start giving a damn about the internet of things when the designers make one standard and stick to it and security of said devices is priority one.

It won't challenge BT since BT is a much easier implementation of point-to-point connect than WiFi will ever be.

That being said, we've waited for this low power band to tape out for a really long time. I'm glad they finally decided to finalize it. This will do wonders for wifi connected speakers.

bloodypulp said:

Unlicensed 900Mhz spectrum is also used by garage openers, baby monitors, walkie talkies and toys. I wonder how "ah" will coexist with those.

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My initial thought was about as well as any 2.4 or 5 ghz device. However after I thought about it some that might not be the case. Part of the issue with those devices is the amount of data they are sending out for streaming or something like that. If you are talking about a light or sensor or something it wouldn't need to send a constant stream of data. Your light bulb doesn't need to be streaming anything, it just needs to listen for that packet that tells it to turn off or on. Kind of like how a security sensor isn't sending data 24x7. it sends a keep alive every so often and outside of that only transmits during a state change. So given that you are sending less data than you would on a normal network where people are surfing the internet it might actually not be as much of a problem. I would kind of expect the same from the devices you said on the flip side, your garage door opener hopefully isn't transmitting none stop. Baby monitor would be the only device that I would maybe question causing a flooding of traffic.