{"id":652,"date":"2013-01-17T12:10:12","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T17:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=652"},"modified":"2013-01-17T12:10:12","modified_gmt":"2013-01-17T17:10:12","slug":"fastest-wi-fi-ever-is-almost-ready-for-real-world-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/01\/17\/fastest-wi-fi-ever-is-almost-ready-for-real-world-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Fastest Wi-Fi ever is almost ready for real-world use"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In a quiet suite removed from the insanity of the Consumer Electronics Show expo floor, a company aiming to build the fastest Wi-Fi chips in the world demonstrated its vision of wireless technology’s future.
\nOn one desk, a laptop powered a two-monitor setup without any wires. At another, a tablet playing an accelerometer-based racing game mirrors its screen in high definition to another monitor. Across the room, a computer quickly transfers a 3GB file from a wireless router with built-in storage.
\nThe suite was set up in the Las Vegas Hotel by Wilocity, a chip company specializing in wireless products using 60GHz transmissions, which are far faster than traditional Wi-Fi. Avoiding the show floor is a good idea if you’re worried about Internet connectivity, because thousands of vendors are clogging the pipes. But that’s not why Wilocity was here\u2014they’d be able to perform the demo even in the busiest parts of CES without interference because they’re not relying on the congested bands used by regular Wi-Fi.
\n“I don’t think we’d have an issue with air congestion,” said director of product marketing Teresa Liou. “We’re just here because it’s quieter and less hectic than being on the show floor.”
\nFaster than a speeding bullet, too weak to pass through walls
\nTraditional Wi-Fi using the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands is crossing the gigabit per second mark with the 802.11ac standard. Wilocity is one of the main proponents of the even faster WiGig (or “wireless gigabit”), which can theoretically hit speeds of up to 7Gbps, with the downside of using frequencies that are easily blocked by walls. Even thin cubicle walls may block signals, Wilocity acknowledged. (See: 7Gbps wireless transfers and streaming, no router required.)
\nIt’s possible the next wireless router you buy will use the 60GHz frequency as well as the lower ones typically used in Wi-Fi, allowing for incredibly fast performance when you’re within the same room as the router and normal performance when you’re in a different room.
\nWilocity’s current chips hit a maximum throughput of 4.6Gbps, putting wireless speeds roughly on par with USB 3.0. Tri-band routers, wireless storage devices, and docking stations that facilitate wireless connections between mobile devices and monitors were all showcased in the Wilocity suite. These were just prototype devices, since shipping products have mostly not yet hit the market.
\nA Dell Latitude 6430u Ultrabook is thus far the only product using a Wilocity chip that you can buy. But WiGig isn’t really a selling point for this laptop today, because there’s no way to take advantage of it until there are companion products like docking stations or routers. Liou said Dell is planning a bundle to pair the Ultrabook with another WiGig-enabled product, but otherwise Wilocity couldn’t say when further products will hit the market.
\nWiGig builds on top of the just-completed 802.11ad wireless standard. Wilocity’s first-generation chip with 802.11ad can be used in computers and docking stations that connect devices to monitors, keyboards, and mice, but the chip can’t be used in wireless routers. A second-generation chip with router support was announced by Wilocity and Qualcomm at CES this week. The chip combines 802.11ad with 802.11ac, the successor to 11n. That way, when WiGig products have to fall back to 2.4GHz or 5GHz transmissions, they’ll at least be getting the best speeds that regular Wi-Fi offers. The chip will be sampled to vendors within a few months, and Wilocity is working with Marvell on tri-band chips as well, Liou noted.
\nSince no tablets with a WiGig chip are commercially available, Wilocity installed one of its chips into a Samsung Windows 8 tablet for purposes of the demo. The routers, wireless storage devices, and docking stations shown off by Wilocity were also prototypes made in conjunction with original design manufacturers like AzureWave.
\nWilocity wanted to dispel any notion that WiGig requires users to keep devices stationary because of the limitations in 60GHz frequencies. To do that, they demonstrated streaming video from a laptop to a monitor while spinning the laptop around in circles. WiGig compensates for the movement with beamforming technology, which helps direct wireless signals.
\nFull Story: Fastest Wi-Fi ever is almost ready for real-world use | Ars Technica<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a quiet suite removed from the insanity of the Consumer Electronics Show expo floor, a company aiming to build […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,6,10],"tags":[33,34,1204,1212],"class_list":["post-652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hardware","category-networking","category-technology","tag-802-11ac","tag-802-11ad","tag-wi-fi","tag-wilocity"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-aw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5871,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/07\/01\/free-wi-fi-networks-in-sf-san-jose-enable-seamless-switching-with-hotspot-2-0\/","url_meta":{"origin":652,"position":0},"title":"Free Wi-Fi networks in SF, San Jose enable seamless switching with Hotspot 2.0","author":"NCCT","date":"July 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"San Francisco and San Jose are now at the cutting edge of another tech trend, and one that has nothing to do with smartwatches or social-media startups\u2014not directly, at least. The two cities have geared up their free public Wi-Fi networks so users can automatically get on both after going\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Networking"","block_context":{"text":"Networking","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/networking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5864,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/07\/01\/some-surface-pro-3-users-complain-of-wi-fi-woes-after-first-day-firmware-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":652,"position":1},"title":"Some Surface Pro 3 users complain of Wi-Fi woes after first-day firmware update","author":"NCCT","date":"July 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Ten days after launch, Microsoft is still trying to squash the bugs in its Surface Pro 3 tablet. As Ed Bott at ZDNet reports, some users have been complaining of connectivity problems over 802.11ac Wi-Fi networks. Complaints have also popped up on Microsoft's support forums, with users noting slower\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5909,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/07\/08\/whats-next-for-wi-fi-a-second-wave-of-802-11ac-devices-and-then-802-11ax\/","url_meta":{"origin":652,"position":2},"title":"What\u2019s next for Wi-Fi? A second wave of 802.11ac devices, and then: 802.11ax","author":"NCCT","date":"July 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Now that blazing-fast routers based on the IEEE 802.11ac standard are finally entering the mainstream, intrepid engineers are busily cooking up all-new hardware that will make that gear\u2019s performance seem quaint by comparison. That\u2019s not to say 802.11ac is about to fall by the wayside\u2014after all, the IEEE didn\u2019t officially\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7070,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/12\/11\/comcast-slapped-with-class-action-lawsuit-for-turning-customers-routers-into-public-hotspots\/","url_meta":{"origin":652,"position":3},"title":"Comcast slapped with class-action lawsuit for turning customers’ routers into public hotspots","author":"NCCT","date":"December 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Comcast\u2019s controversial decision to transform its customers\u2019 wireless routers into public Wi-Fi hotspots has, predictably, landed the company in even more hot water. A pair of disgruntled customers recently filed a class-action lawsuit against the cable, television and Internet provider in San Francisco. Toyer Grear and Joycelyn Harris claim Comcast\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Networking"","block_context":{"text":"Networking","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/networking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7015,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/12\/03\/supercharged-wi-fi-sparks-ethernet-standard-showdown\/","url_meta":{"origin":652,"position":4},"title":"Supercharged Wi-Fi sparks Ethernet standard showdown","author":"NCCT","date":"December 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"There\u2019s a standard in the works for ethernet gear to feed faster Wi-Fi access points, but with rival industry groups pushing two different specifications, it might take a while to finish. Wi-Fi is getting fast enough that Gigabit ethernet can\u2019t keep up with the most advanced access points, which use\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Networking"","block_context":{"text":"Networking","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/networking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5681,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/06\/03\/meet-cupid-the-heartbleed-attack-that-spawns-evil-wi-fi-networks\/","url_meta":{"origin":652,"position":5},"title":"Meet \u201cCupid,\u201d the Heartbleed attack that spawns \u201cevil\u201d Wi-Fi networks","author":"NCCT","date":"June 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Enlarge \/ A packet capture showing Cupid attacking a wireless network. SysValue \u00a0 \u00a0 It just got easier to exploit the catastrophic Heartbleed vulnerability against wireless networks and the devices that connect to them thanks to the release last week of open source code that streamlines the process of plucking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Networking"","block_context":{"text":"Networking","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/networking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/heartbleed_cupid_img1-640x356.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/heartbleed_cupid_img1-640x356.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/heartbleed_cupid_img1-640x356.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}