I move large files all the time. This sounds great. I am thinking, I might need one for each side of my house with a cat 6 hardline between.
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First Gigabit Wi-Fi Routers Ready to Launch
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This is going to be great for local Multimedia data streaming. No more wiring required, and at 1GB, lots of separate streams could run at the same time.
As soon as new devices start to support it or ethernet to 802.11ac bridges start to appear, I just hope Apple doesn't fall behind and also releases their Airport line supporting this new standard. By the way, is it an approved standard or still a proposed standard?
As soon as new devices start to support it or ethernet to 802.11ac bridges start to appear, I just hope Apple doesn't fall behind and also releases their Airport line supporting this new standard. By the way, is it an approved standard or still a proposed standard?
Exactly ! Expect the 15in MBA/P to have 802.11ac and NO GB NIC and to launch coincident with an 802.11ac Airport Express (at least).
Usage like that is a key scenario. Existing 802.11N can keep up with most users' broadband, but if you're copying data locally it's a different story. My router is usually at 270 or 300Mbps link-speed, but when I'm copying files across the local network I only get <25Mbps of actual data transferred.
A 3x increase is welcome, but still barely equals existing 500Mbps Powerline or gigabit Ethernet connections.
you wont notice much of a difference in your internet speeds but local network you will.
I'll stick with my cat6 wiring i put in awhile ago for everything for now though.
Surprised it wasnt dubbed something "Wi-Fi 2.0" or something to offer less confusion amongst people who are less familiar to tech terms and specifications.
Currently, the only real reason to have an ethernet port on a MBA is to be able to do a fast TimeMachine backup.
With a 1Gb Access Point, there is no more reason to really have one. In the end, a MBA is supposed to be portable, and hooked to ethernet just gets in the way.
Are modern day wifi routers/clients full duplex yet? (I know there is MIMO not sure if that counts).
I wish my provider offered 100mbit down for less than $300 a month so I could actually afford it.
The point of something like this isn't to make your internet connection faster it's to improve your connectivity between devices. It will make a huge difference to supporting devices when using NAS storage etc but that's about it unless you're running loads (10+) computers on a 10mbit internet connection
The MBA is an ideal portable iMac (i.e. from room to room).
When I want to move big files around (nothing to do with Time Machine), I have to go to the nearest wired LAN point, plug in the Belkin Gb NIC/USB device and get no better than 15MBps. Or get no better than 10MBps wireless.
With 802.11ac I should get 30MBps with the right Airport Express unit nearby.
Still not as good as the 90+MBps from a proper wired Gb NIC, but better. Next Gen will be even better.
This QUITE A STRETCH to include this story on MR.
I welcome the technology, but it will be well over a year before it's mainstream (people need to buy the router AND a computer that supports it)...nobody is going to buy a USB-based ac WIFI thing-a-ma-jig. Folks want WIFI buried in the electronics.
Any new Macs in 2012 will NOT support ac so it's mid 2013 before Apple fans see this in the equipment...and very unlikely to be on iPad 4 in 2013 because there's just no business case for such a hot new technology on a device that surfs the web and plays games.
I was looking to buy an N router this summer so maybe I will wait and pay the $50 more for this ac...but I still won't have any devices that could take advantage of ac. And although I welcome the new theoretical speeds, they will offer no improvement over my 30Mbs ISP connection...and I don't do any local network heavy traffic (like transfering 100GB of data from pc to pc) to even make it break a sweat. Although the N protocol is everywhere, it's still not heavily used/activated due the kind of traffic handheld devices create and the lifestyles of the average computer user surfing the web, sending emails with attachments, downloading a 7MB MP3 from iTunes, etc.
Again, I welcome the new speeds...but years before it's mainstream and years before we gobble up so much traffic per day that it will even be noticeable over N.
Speed will drop quite quickly if the distance between your computer and router is not very small. If you need reliable gigabit speed, stick with wires.
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No. They either transmit or receive, but not both.
I agree. That sounds very "Apple" to me. Let's just hope the wire-speed on teh new Extreme/Express can keep up. I love the reliability of my 1st gen-N Extreme but I've resisted upgrading because the wire-speed on the newer Extreme can really route a full Gb full-duplex signal.
That's what these are for exactly. I run gigabit through the front part of my house, but I just moved into the master suite in the rear of the house and don't want to run cable across the entire rowhouse. So I'll get one of these for the front of the house to send my BluRay rips from Plex to the gigabit wireless router at the back of the house so the TV in the bedroom doesn't stutter when I'm trying to watch a high bitrate file.
I respectfully disagree. MR has included several stories/hints at Apple building up a technology base to support 802.11ac. This is the first shipping product and a look at what Apple may be offering.
As for no Macs supporting it in 2012, Apple has actually moved pretty quickly in the wireless game. Cutting wires fits squarely in Apple's design aesthetic and 802.11ac will help justify dropping ethernet from their Pro laptops all together. That's a change I have mixed feelings about but if you look at current MBP the ethernet plug is clearly the limiting form factor for shrinking the thickness even more. If nothing else I think we'll see Apple "secretly" supporting 11ac and then enabling it with Mountain Lion later in the summer (that is if we seen the new systems before WWDC).
"Mainstream" is tricky thing to define. I believe a lot of people are using wireless N and don't really know it. Besides a lot Apple's buyers are relative power users who develop media involving large files either professionally or as dedicated amateurs. They may be a small part of the general population but I believe within that group gigabit wireless with Apple ease-of-use will be a big selling point and I think Apple knows that.
I doubt anyone in the real world even remembers 802.11a.
Otherwise, did we even get N final hardware for longer than a year? I am still seeing Draft N hardware to this day. I know a few high end routers were released within the past 18 months with N Final but that did not last long.
Yes, using NETGEAR routers is like putting your pants on with a pair of pliers.
Give me an Apple Router/Time Capsule 3TB anytime.
Set it and forget it!
woah, its $25 here for unlimited data and also includes unlimited calls and $35 including HD tv channels
Actually I dont give a *** about Time Capsule - Id rather buy a new Airport Extreme and user my NAS for data and backup.
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Wow, what a price!
Here its like $100 for unlimited calls but no unlimited data
Thank you I'm glad i'm not the only one that was scratching my head regarding the assumption that you have to have a really fast WAN connection.
Didn't realize that people didn't know that a Router exists between two networks. 802.11ac is about improving LAN speed so that you don't have to rip your walls apart and ad wiring to get Gigabit speeds.
Thanks for shedding light on this World Citizen
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I think you're likely correct on the Macs but incorrect on the mobile devices. 802.11ac is VERY important for mobile devices and I'd be absolutely floored if the iPad 2013 doesn't support 802.11ac and I'll tell you why.
Current 802.11n technology provides 150Mbps per antenna. Computers have the space and power to run 3 antenna to get to 450Mbps. Mobile devices cannot afford the space and power consumption of 3 antenna so speed will be locked in at only 150Mbps theoretical.
Enter 11ac
Each antenna in 11ac supports 433 Mbps. So mobile devices stand to see the largest improvement of network speed because one antenna provides almost the speed of 3 channels of 11n. That's a win.
Being that 11ac is fully backwards compatible means the rolllout will be fast .
I hope Apple updates their Airport Express Base Station. I've got a 4th generation AEBS and file transfers over Wifi are incredibly slow. I typically have to send files to a connected hard drive, speeds range from 3-4.5mb/s
Here's me trying to send a 2gb file;
Total time for it to transfer is about 10 minutes.
Here's me trying to send a 2gb file;
Total time for it to transfer is about 10 minutes.
I wonder if the difference lies on whether the file transfer speed is being affected by:
- Hard Drive read/write speed (Would it be faster using SSD drives at both ends?)
- Interference (are you connecting at 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz?)
On your first number, 15MBps which is approximately 120 Mbps or by adding the extra bits required for the transfer 150 Mbps, it does seems slow.
Could the slowdown be internally to the MBA not having a fast enough bus?
What speed do you get when copying a file to an external USB 2.0 drive 7200RPM? That may show us if the problem really is happening during network transfer or before.