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The Importance of 5GHz Operation for Video

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Recently, I read a great article on ZDNet that discusses the challenges IEEE 802.11n faces with 2.4GHz operation. The article is appropriately titled The Consequences of Abandoning the 5GHz Frontier, and discusses some history, backward compatibility, and interference. The important takeaway from this article is if you want a premium experience of video and other Windows Vista scenarios, especially Xbox 360 and Media Center Extender, look for the Certified for Windows Vista logo when purchasing consumer network equipment:

I posted a comment on this article that provides a little more information, which can be found here: https://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-10533-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=29474&messageID=559062

-- Gabe Frost

Comments

  • Anonymous
    February 09, 2007
    I'm not sure I get it. At the end of the day the only sustainable advantage of the 5Ghz U-NII band is freedom from the microwave oven noise that sits in the 2.4Ghz ISM band (and how many minutes per day does the typical microwave actually operate for?). The only reason the 5Ghz band is less crowded is because there are fewer products available that use that band. If everybody started using that band it would be just as crowded as the 2.4Ghz band. Plus higher frequency signals suffer greater attenuation due to objects in the physical environment (e.g. walls, doors etc) than signals at lower levels. The attenuation issue is why I think the 2.4Ghz band remains the preferred frequency. Who wants to build a 5Ghz device that keeps getting unfavorably compared to a competitors 2.4Ghz device that gets better range and data rates? Right now the low interference level in the 5Ghz band pretty much cancels out the attenuation issue, but this advantage would disappear if it started becoming popular.

  • Anonymous
    February 09, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 27, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 27, 2007
    Thanks Eli, you definitely highlight a key area of importance. I most certainly agree with you, and we are doing a lot of work to overcome the legacy perception of 802.11a. This is an effort that is happening within Microsoft, the standards industry, and retail. I appreciate your comments. As we make progress, I'll talk about it on this blog. Please let us know how we're doing. -- Gabe

  • Anonymous
    February 28, 2007
    So any chance that MS will get back in the router business like before?  Or maybe offer rebates for 5GHz devices, seems like a device becomes more popular if there is a rebate, although this would be kind of hard to pay for as you aren't making money off it unless you tie in buying Vista with a router to get the rebate. Seems like you could easily update the technet FAQ on wireless networks to compare 2.4GHz and 5GHz and the consumer level help.   Right now going by this: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/89adebd1-06a4-43ec-a33b-5964b436f96d1033.mspx I'd get an 802.11g router since I'd be thinking, there are walls in my house so 802.11a wouldn't work based on your con. (the technet article also mentions they are basically the same except the range and price issue)  No mention of how your router may overlap the channel of another router in the house/apartment right next door or what real world speeds you'd see (only that 802.11g is only slightly slower)   There should be more emphasis that MS recommends using a 5GHz product. If then people see that and go to the store and ask for that then there is more demand for it.  Right now MS is leaving it up in the air and so consumers will go to the store, see the price difference and think its not worth the extra money especially since the con of range that is always mentioned makes it seem like it can't cover a whole house/apartment and I have yet to see any reveiws showing the range of modern 5GHz devices btw for my point 2 I'm referring to the graphic itself as thats all the average consumer looks at.  Right now it seems pretty simple so if you at a 5GHz overlaid on top for all 5GHz devices it would stick out as the better item to a consumer and make them more interested in it.

  • Anonymous
    February 28, 2007
    I'd love to hear your responce to this: http://www.wifinetnews.com/archives/007336.html (which itself is a response to the article you linked to originally) And if increasing the output power of the 5GHz radio can balance out the range issue how much does that effect battery life?  I realize that we are talking less then a watt of output power but there has to be wasted energy.

  • Anonymous
    June 23, 2008
    More then a year later and Broadcom and Atheros finally annonce new chipsets that support dual channel operation at a lower price.  Wonder haw many products will actually go dual band