Posted 10/06/09 at 06:25:40 PM by Jason Barry

Netgear announced their latest foray into the open source wireless router realm with the Netgear WNR3500L. Cisco based Linksys routers targeted at consumers have been flaunting the Linux OS for quite some time. However, Netgear has plans to become a favorite amongst the open source networking community.

The WNR3500L rocks the latest 802.11n support and is fully customizable with the latest open source firmware out there: DD-WRT, OpenWRT, and Tomato. Som Pal Choudhury, senior product line manager for advanced wireless, also mentioned their “Development Partner Program, with multiple software vendors and developers creating customized, robust, commercial-grade applications on the WNR3500L.”

In addition to the open source community, Netgear has collaborated with software application companies to deliver applications such as hotspot software by Sputnik, and remote access by Leaf Networks, among others, to run additionally on the Linux platform.

In terms of hardware, it sports a 480MHz MIPS 74K CPU, 8MB of flash memory, 64MB of RAM, 5 gigabit Ethernet ports, and USB ports for shared peripherals. Netgear will launch the router this Fall with a starting price of $139.99.

The price is a bit steep; do you think the flexibility of Linux and additional software, not to mention full 802.11n support is worth the price tag?

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Posted 09/13/09 at 01:20:09 PM by Justin Kerr

The IEEE standards group has finally ratified 802.11n, a standard that has been stuck in limbo since 2006 when it first entered draft status. Draft N devices delivered on the promise of higher speeds and better range, but despite assurances, many feared compatibility would be an issue down the road. 

The extended delay in approving the standard came from competing “pre-N” technologies from Atheros and Broadcom, which led to a long and drawn out debate over the form of the final spec. The delay led the IEEE to certify Draft 2.0 802.11n devices in March 2007, with the understanding that these would be upgradable through firmware to the final standard. To accomplish this, a promise was made to make no major changes to the spec, or the certification process.

802.11n has seen a high level of adoption within consumer electronics and networking equipment, but companies are typically slow to adopt anything bearing the title “draft”. Keep an eye out for new firmware and drivers for your 802.11n hardware in the days and weeks to come. Officials from the IEEE plan to publish the final standard sometime in mid-October. I guess the time has finally come to look forward to the next big leap in Wi-Fi speeds. I wonder how many letters of the alphabet they plan to skip this time?

Have you been waiting for the Wi-Fi Alliances blessing to buy new hardware?

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Posted 07/22/09 at 09:44:17 AM by Paul Lilly

At long last, it looks like the 802.11n standard might finally get approved. Bob Heile, who heads up the 802.15 group for Personal Area Networks, fired off an email confirming that the IEEE 802.11n draft standard had been sent to the Standards Review Committee, PCMag.com reports.

"On other fronts, 802.11 was granted unconditional approval to forward 11n to RevCom," Heile wrote. "After a bit of a rocky period on getting acceptable coexistence language included in the draft, I was pleased to support this approval. Congratulations to Bruce for his patience and perseverance in getting this done. This was an extremely complex project."

And a time consuming one. The 802.11n standards process first began almost five years ago in 2004. Internal turmoil and political maneuvering put the clamps down on the process, even after a draft version of 802.11n was approved in January 2006. But come September 11, 2009, the draft may finally become a standard.

"We sought and were granted conditional approval to forward 802.15.3c latest draft to Revcom for its consideration at its Sept. 2009 meeting," Heile added. "A third and, we hope final, recirculation is in the process."

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Posted 10/01/08 at 12:53:51 PM by Michael Brown

This multi-function Wi-Fi device is super handy in some applications; utterly useless in others. It’s great if you have an extensive hardwired network and want to deploy a wireless access point and a three-port switch in a room your Wi-Fi router can’t otherwise reach. But it sucks as a wireless bridge because of its extremely poor range.

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Posted 06/24/08 at 06:04:07 PM by Mark Edward Soper

D-Link's new DIR-628 offers support for 802.11n 5GHz as well as 2.4GHz support with a street price of around $100. 5GHz support enables 802.11n networks to escape the channel congestion inherent in 2.4GHz networks (where only three of the 11 channels theoretically available do not overlap) and achieve faster throughput through the use of double-width (40MHz) channels.  Find out what's included, as well as what features hit the cutting room floor to help the DIR-628 make its price point.

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Posted 06/24/08 at 09:23:38 AM by Michael Brown

If you wander far from your 802.11n Draft 2.0 router, you’ll want to know about Hawking Technology’s 300N Dish Network Adapter. This not-so-little dish antenna delivers outstanding range without the need to drop your network down to 802.11g mode to support it.

Read on to find out what we thought of its performance.

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Posted 06/23/08 at 06:56:53 PM by Mark Edward Soper

From today's best laptops to the new eee Box, 802.11n is today's hottest wireless network standard. It's rapidly replacing older 802.11g networks on store shelves, but there are actually two distinct versions of the "almost ready for prime time" standard. Find out how to tell them apart, and what their advantages are.

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Posted 12/13/07 at 03:18:07 AM by Michael Brown

Belkin’s N1 Vision takes user friendliness to a whole new level. This is the first router we’ve seen that offers extensive installation hand-holding right in the firmware—there’s no need to drop a CD in your drive.

Click Read More for more. 

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