What's the point of 802.11n on an iPhone?

[VenusianSky]

Why not have 802.11n? I imagine the chip is quite cheap and production of 802.11g chips are probably fading away.

 

[TLewis]

Yes, but the problem is it's 2.4Ghz, not the 5Ghz everyone has in their home. So it's compatible with really nothing. That is why it's useless.

Many dual-band routers support N on 2.4GHz, so that shouldn't be a problem. What are you using?

For that matter, I'd prefer N on 2.4GHz, just for the longer indoor range (although, as others have pointed out, high-speed wifi really isn't all that useful with the iPhone).

Yes, 5GHz does have a longer range, technically, but that's line-of-sight -- as in "outdoors". Once you add things like walls, floors, furniture, mirrors, etc., etc., into the mix, 2.4GHz will often give better indoor range. I'd argue that most wireless usage is done indoors, or so close to the apartment/house that the range can be considered to be practically "indoors".

(The issue is that, as you go higher in frequency, the signals are more easily attenuated/blocked by physical objects.)

However, if you're in a heavily congested (2.4GHz) place, moving to 5GHz might be helpful, even with the reduced range (which you might not even notice, if you're in a small apartment).

 

[spinedoc77]

Since we can't send/receive large files over WiFi, can someone tell me the advantage of using n on an iPhone?

Same point in having retina display on a tiny smartphone screen.

 

[DoFoT9]

However, if you're in a heavily congested (2.4GHz) place, moving to 5GHz might be helpful, even with the reduced range (which you might not even notice, if you're in a small apartment).

gah. as i said. the new iphone doesnt support 5GHz spectrum!

 

[double329]

My iPad is connecting to the same wifi router as my iPhone 4. Both use 2.4ghz band. iPad speed test result much faster than iPhone 4.

iPad: ~21100 Kbps down and 2080 Kbps up link
iPhone: ~11558 Kbps down and 2090 Kbps up link

Not sure why? I'm expecting 100 kpbs diff in speed, but not 100% diff. iPad on 5ghz band is even faster, I got close to 30000 kbps.

Perhaps it was diff wifi chip.

 

[mgmusicman94]

Range?

+1

 

[No ice please]

Higher res screen, Bigger textures for Apps, and Bigger Applications in size Mb/Gb. Wireless n will help with downloading new apps. And as jobs said in his emails that wifi sync will come "someday" this will make syncs faster.

 

[Ca$hflow]

Wireless syncing

I would hate to sync my iphone through wireless g. N is way faster.

 

[SmittS]

My internet speeds increased dramatically. Speedtest reports 14-15 Mbit vs 4-6 on my 3g. Google loads almost instantaneous.

 

[DoFoT9]

My internet speeds increased dramatically. Speedtest reports 14-15 Mbit vs 4-6 on my 3g. Google loads almost instantaneous.

i wonder what that has to do with - i guess a combination of CPU, NIC, GPU and OS upgrades.