Wireless networking - what's next?

[Parm]

I love my wireless network, it's arguably my favourite gadget in the house. I have a Netgear DG834GT router which is a bit old now but it still works perfectly. I've got my PC hooked up to it upstairs, an iMac connecting to it downstairs and an Xbox 360 connecting to it downstairs too. Then on top of that my mobile phone and other mobile devices use it too. Lovely jubbly!

Everything works really well but there are a few corners of the house where the signal isn't quite as strong. I therefore started to fish around to see what's new, I figured my router is at least a few years old now so there must be something bigger and better.

I came across the DG834N which seems to be the current cream of the crop. As with all things gadget related, I couldn't help but want it and did a bit more digging. Here's where I got a little confused.

Most of the sites I found mentioned that the router uses the 'Draft N' specification which isn't quite finalised yet? That kinda threw me off, why would they sell a product that isn't quite complete and why would anyone want to buy it? Or am I just completely getting the wrong impression?

What is the next standard for wireless networking and when will it be completed and readily available?

[Funkstar]

what they are selling is a product that confirms to the draft 802.11n specification that is in discussion at the IEEE.

There are loads of Draft-N products out there, nome of which are garanteed to work together. This happened with 802.11g as well if i remember right.

At least it's not as bad a the g-turbo or g+ type products, they cause problems with completely standard G devices.

The good news is that the new Centrino will be Draft-N too, making it very, very likely that the Intel implimentation will become the standard, especially as they are introducing a "works with Centrino" program as well.

To be honest i would wait a while for things to settle down with 802.11n. If you are buying all new AP and cards then get them from the same vendor and you should benefit, just upgrading the AP/router and nothing else won't always give you an improvement, and may cause a lot of headaches

[Parm]

In that case, I think I'll just wait!

When are we likely to see the none-draft N devices appearing?

[Sinizter]

If it is a recent product with Draft N specs it is likely to be compatible with the N spec when released as almost all of the specs have been now finalised.

[Funkstar]

As most of the wirless gear these days is actually software based, there shouldn't be a problem upgrading it all the the final N spec when it is final... but of course there are no garantees

Doesn't look like we will see a completed 802.11n spec for another year and a bit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#802.11n

and here for the time line (really confusing document)
http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/1..._Timelines.htm

This is probably why Intel have gone ahead and used the Draft-N spec. I'd say you should be safe, compatability wise, when we start seeing the Intel compatability logos on things later in the year.