Wireless home networks are becoming more and more popular these days. In the past, there was usually just one computer per household, stashed away in a corner somewhere, and home internet was set up using cables, running along the walls (sometimes through them) and into one machine. Today however, most households will use wireless networks to connect more than one machine to the internet.
And it's no surprise, really. Most typical households will have several machines – one main computer, a laptop or two to be used at work or the university, chances are another child in the house will have their first computer in their room for chatting with their friends online. And that's without mentioning our brand new iphone, Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 and our Apple TV…
The technology, initially called 802.11 a and 802.11b worked to certain strength. It didn't have an impressive range, and if your walls were too thick you might have had a few problems, and so was purchased mainly by early adaptors, who would put up with the rather poor data rates.
The next generation, dubbed 802.11g, was much more mature, and offered higher data rates and better coverage. As a result, it is widespread today - almost any wireless LAN device these days is Wireless G enabled.
But is that really enough today? As already mentioned, there are more and more machines connected to Wi-Fi in each house – and they all demand more bandwidth. Using your favorite gaming console to play online, or streaming a video file from your Media Center to your TV takes its toll.
The solution? Enter Wireless-N. 802.11n is the new addition to the wireless standard. It uses MIMO technology (Multiple Input Multiple Output), which uses 3 antennas to transmit and receive different data on each one, and to better overcome obstacles (walls or humans), and it can allow you to stream several HD streams in a home environment.
Until recently, most products on the market were not mature enough, which is why Wireless-N does not have a major market share. However, 1st tier manufacturers such as Linksys, Belkin and NetGear are releasing more and more products into the market these days, so the future looks promising.
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