802.11n is finally a standard

Posted on 14 Sep 2009 at 11:48

The IEEE has finally ratified the 802.11n wireless networking standard, seven years after it was first proposed.

This will mean an end to manufacturers needing to put Draft-N on their boxes. Otherwise, there's very little change and owners of existing Draft-N products shouldn't have to worry about compatibility.

The long gestation period of the standard meant that the all wireless manufacturers have been making products that comply to Draft 2.0 of the 802.11n wireless standard. They also signed up to get their products certified by the Wi-Fi alliance for interoperability.

The net result is that if you've bought a wireless N product in the last three years, it's very likely that your router already complies with the 802.11n standard.

"All of [D-Link's] 11n Wi-Fi home routers and business solutions comply with the latest wireless technology and have done so since long before the final ratification," said D-Link in a statement.

To make sure your router is up to date, we recommend checking the manufacturer's support pages to see if there's new firmware to download. As the standard was only ratified today (14 September 2009), updates (if there are any) could take a few weeks to appear.

Author: David Ludlow

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