Should you be Considering 802.11 ad Over the 802.11 ac Standard?

There has been a lot of chatter and anticipation around the upcoming release of the new 802.11 ac standard. A month or so before new wireless products offering increased speed and bandwidth with the .11 ac standard hit the market Craig Mathias of Technology Guide has written about a standard that may have been overlook, but is worth your attention. In the piece Mathias takes a deeper look at the 802.11 ad standard, its position in the space and he clear up a few misconceptions about the currently ratified standard.

The first thing Mathias clears up is a bit of confusion as to the position of 11. ad saying that some consider it a “specialized or limited” solution. Despite a few drawbacks which he does touch upon he compares .11 ad to ac and writes that “.11ad operates in the 60-GHz. bands, which provision between seven and nine gigahertz of spectrum depending upon the rules of a specific country – many times that of the 5-GHz. band where 802.11ac operates regardless.” The drawbacks that he mentions revolve around signals at certain frequencies being limited in range and direction, but he says not to fear as core technologies have been developed to help rectify these drawbacks.

While these products offering both .11 ad and ac capabilities are fairly limited on the market right now Mathias looks at the reality of folks adopting .11 ad in the future. He seems to think it is in some user’s futures, and while he thinks that it will never truly complete for mainstream use with .11 ac, it will be the option for many power users out there. Mathias closes by writing, “it’s not too early to add 802.11ad to your to-do list, and, of course, marvel and the continuing advances in technology that continue to make mobility the center of today’s IT universe.” Click here to read the full article and for more on what’s happening with the 802.11 ad standard.