802.11ac: Better Coverage, But Won't Hit Advertised Speeds 107
New submitter jcenters writes "Apple's new AirPort routers feature the new 802.11ac protocol, promising Wi-Fi speeds in excess of 1 Gbps, but Glenn Fleishman of TidBITS explains why we are unlikely to see such speeds any time soon. Quoting: 'When Apple says that its implementation of 802.11ac can achieve up to 1.3 Gbps — and other manufacturers with beefier radio systems already say up to 1.7 Gbps — the reality is that a lot of conditions have to be met to achieve that raw data rate. And, as you well know from decades of network-technology advertising, dear reader, a “raw” data rate (often incorrectly called “theoretical”) is the maximum number of bits that can pass over a network. That includes all the network overhead as well as actual data carried in packets and frames. The net throughput is often 30 to 60 percent lower.'"
Teach the Little Children (Score:5, Interesting)
The school curriculum should be amended so that every school child graduates school knowing that physcial layer rate > MAC layer throughput.
Re:wasteful on spectrum (Score:5, Interesting)
My apartment is in a cellular dead spot. My landline only has two ports... one in the kitchen and one in the master bedroom. It would really suck if I couldn't use the phone in the living, garage, basement or office without having a long-ass cord getting tangled on everything. So maybe cordless phones do have a purpose after all.