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Hardware Netgear, D-Link 802.11n Network Kits
Sven Olsen (Blog) - April 6, 2006 1:40 PM

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21 comment(s) - last by hstewarth.. on Apr 12 at 7:44 PM

Netgear WNR854T Wireless Gigabit Router

D-Link RangeBooster N 650 Wireless Router

Wireless speeds increase three-fold over standard wired 100Mb Ethernet with this new standard

Netgear, a major company in the networking industry, announced yesterday the availability of the world's first 802.11n based wireless/wired networking equipment capable of speeds up to 300Mbps over-the-air and gigabit speeds over Ethernet.

Netgear's RangeMax Next line will include an entire line of kits as well as separate components such as routers, switches, wireless access points, wireless notebook cards, and PCI adapters. The RangeMax Next series builds on the original 802.11b/g based RangeMax products by adding support for the 802.11n standard, though the standard has not officially been finalized.

802.11n is said to be capable of wireless speeds up to 600Mbps, theoretically of course, and a longer operating range compared to the first three wireless standards, depending on line-of-sight. The key ingredient to higher wireless speeds is the MIMO or Multi-in/Multi-Out technology which utilizes more than one antenna to transmit data outbound and inbound simultaneously. The 802.11n standard has been designed to be backwards compatible with current and last generation standards to help slowly carry those with wireless technology already implemented to the next generation of wireless technology.

Netgear is not the only one offering 802.11n products, however. D-Link, a name just as familiar as Netgear, simultaneously announced that it plans to launch the RangeBooster N 650 line of wireless routers and network adapters based on the 802.11n pre-finalized standard at the end of the month.

Current availability of the Netgear products is very low and it looks like TigerDirect is the only online retailer, or any retailer at all, that is listing a RangeMax Next product at this time with a pricetag of $349.99. D-Link has its products on pre-order with a lower pricetag of $159.99 for the router, $99.99 for the notebook adapter, and $119.99 for the USB-based network adapters.

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Tiger doesn't have these in stock

By Homerboy on 4/6/2006 4:30:44 PM , Rating: 1

Price:
$349.99

Availability: Usually Ships in 7 - 21 Days

"Hurry get your ORDER in today"

RE: Tiger doesn't have these in stock

By Homerboy on 4/6/2006 4:32:49 PM , Rating: 1

...and you can order the D-Link direct from D-Link today.
Slick reporting DT

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RE: Tiger doesn't have these in stock

By PT2006 on 4/6/2006 4:51:29 PM , Rating: 2

link?

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RE: Tiger doesn't have these in stock

By Homerboy on 4/6/2006 5:46:36 PM , Rating: 2

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=487

click on buy now

internet is hard....

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RE: Tiger doesn't have these in stock

By PT2006 on 4/6/2006 5:52:23 PM , Rating: 2

Not to be a jackass but apparently you didn't read that link either.

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RE: Tiger doesn't have these in stock

By Knish on 4/6/2006 4:54:43 PM , Rating: 2

"Tiger doesn't have these in stock"
They doent say tigerdirect does.

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RE: Tiger doesn't have these in stock

By Homerboy on 4/6/2006 5:45:45 PM , Rating: 2

I clicked on the DT article provided link....

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RE: Tiger doesn't have these in stock

By hstewarth on 4/12/2006 7:41:20 PM , Rating: 2

Netgear appears to have them in stock.

On the prices, please remember that one currently be sold now is a Kit that includes the Access Point and PCCARD for notebook.

One thing I like about the Netgear ( not sure if DLink is this way ) is that it has GigiBit switch on it. I planning on getting a Dual Woodcrest and I would desired Gigibit network for PC's and 300G for notebooks.

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pre-finalized 11n?

By kleinwl on 4/6/2006 3:30:47 PM , Rating: 2

How could netgear be the worlds first when the standard isn't even finalized yet? Does netgear include swappable network boards in case the final version is slightly different?

<Hey look, here is the first 44z wireless network router... your for only $2 million, available 5 decades before 44z is finalized>

Of course... who am I kidding... how many tvs are there with HDMI 1.3? So.. whatever.

RE: pre-finalized 11n?

By shadowzz on 4/6/2006 3:45:24 PM , Rating: 2

the standard got finalized.

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RE: pre-finalized 11n?

By ocyl on 4/6/2006 3:58:04 PM , Rating: 2

Not yet. Both press releases say "draft" specifications.

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RE: pre-finalized 11n?

By mikecel79 on 4/6/2006 4:18:35 PM , Rating: 2

Link? Last I heard it was still in draft form.

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RE: pre-finalized 11n?

By kaborka on 4/7/2006 1:54:51 PM , Rating: 2

"At the March 2006 meeting, the IEEE 802.11 Working Group sent the 802.11n Draft to its first letter ballot, which means that the 500+ 802.11 voters get to review the document and suggest bugfixes, changes and improvements."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11n#802.11n

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let's see...

By sprockkets on 4/6/2006 5:03:15 PM , Rating: 3

802.11b at 11mbps gave me around 300KBps of actual throughput, which is 2.4mbps.

802.11g at 54mbps gave me 2.6MBps of actual throughput, which is 20.8mbps.

Throughput on the b standard was without encryption. Throughput on the g standard was with or without WPA-PSK, I receive the same results.

So, if we follow that simple trend where we do not even get to have the stated bandwidth, perhaps at 300mbps will give me around 100mbps, though I seriously doubt it will, and as soon as I walk outside the room with the router, it probably with exponentially drop. I'm not holding my breath.

Oh, and for reference, 100mbps ethernet gave me 11.1MBps of actual throughput, which is 94.4mbps. Given some is used for the protocol, this is the only standard that actually lives up to its name.

Yeah, argue all you want that some routers give more bandwidth than others, but they all use the same chipset practically, and you don't have to fish around for a good ethernet switch or router, do you?

To be fair, n should fix a lot of range issues, so perhaps there still hope left for it.

RE: let's see...

By mmp121 on 4/6/2006 5:14:49 PM , Rating: 2

Well hopefully this means that router companies will begin putting out 10/100/1000Mbps routers with their 802.11n hardware since the wireless is now "capable" of speeds faster than 100Mbps. Its about time now that Gigabit ethernet takes the spotlight and 100Mbps goes into retirement!

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RE: let's see...

By hstewarth on 4/12/2006 7:44:57 PM , Rating: 2

Please not that the DLink unit does not have a Gigibit switch on it where the Netgear does. This could explain part of cost difference. Plus the fact that Netgear include a PCCard.

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Not the first

By GreenEnvt on 4/7/2006 8:28:29 AM , Rating: 2

Why are they claiming to be first? Hasn't Belkin already had their Pre-N router out for like a year? it also is just based on draft specs for 802.11n

RE: Not the first

By dnd728 on 4/7/2006 4:01:07 PM , Rating: 2

They've all had pre-N (~g). This N draft (~n).

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RE: Not the first

By david99 on 4/8/2006 1:31:41 AM , Rating: 2

i was hopeing that the new standard would have 'mesh'
included as standard in all the boxs, its about time we
the end users had a simple way to extend wireless home/community wireless networks without messing with the likes of 'roofnet' and 3rd party firmwares dont you think ?.

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So....

By Homerboy on 4/6/2006 4:28:07 PM , Rating: 2

Even if practical ends up 50% of theoretical, this would blow 100baseT out of the water... interesting.

I was looking at going to wirless soon for home, but hesitated due to the fact that even G was 1/4 practical speed of hardwired 100baseT....