The 802.11n WiFi access point is the latest wireless standard. Many schools, enterprises and hospitals have made the switch. What’s so great about 802.11n?
Here are the 4 top reasons to upgrade to 802.11n:
- 802.11n is FASTER
- 802.11n is less prone to INTERFERENCE
- 802.11n uses the newest SECURITY
- 802.11n is ready for next-gen MULTIMEDIA
Faster
How does the 802.11n standard allow this increase in speed? The higher frequency 5GHz band is the key.
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Send and receive more than one data stream at the same time. This is called Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (often just called MIMO). (that’s why wireless n devices have two or more antennas).
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Use two data channels simultaneously to double the data rate. This is sometimes called channel bonding and is allowed in most (but not all) countries. The channel width of 802.11n has doubled from 20MHz to 40MHz.
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The quality of the wireless link is better on 802.11n so there’s less need for retries due to failed transmissions.
Less prone to interference
You may never have any problems with WiFi interference. But as more and more wireless devices come along, especially in the 2.4GHz frequency band, the risk of interference increases.
802.11n standard devices can operate on two frequency bands, 2.4GHz and 5GHz.
- Use the 2.4GHz band for communication with older pre-n devices.
- Use the 5GHz band for communication with other n products.
The 5GHz band is
- less crowded (2.4GHz users even have to share with Microwave ovens!)
- has more channels which translates into more capacity.
802.11n has better signal recovery — when the data quality deteriorates, 802.11n standard devices can lower their data rate to improve the quality of the connection.
Latest security features
Products using the 802.11n standard have excellent security.
Because 802.11n works over greater distances, an intruder wanting to gain access to your network could do so from further away and, because of the higher data speeds, it could take that intruder less time to access your network.
However, though more people may be within range of your wireless network signal, the latest security features should make it difficult to gain unauthorized access. Combined with the latest wireless intrusion detection tools, your wireless LAN can have the best protection available.
The 802.11n standard specifies WiFi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) and allows for the data to be encrypted using the NIST Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
Ready for next generation multimedia
The 802.11n standard has been designed to support an anticipated demand for access to more data faster as new generation devices connect to existing networks and activities such as high speed interactive gaming and streaming music and video become more common.
If streaming video is a common occurrence at your facility, you need to move to 802.11n. Facilities like schools, hospitals, and hotels are immediate candidates for 802.11n.
Ready to Upgrade to 802.11n? Contact us here to get started or download our FREE wireless design kit
