Did You Know 802.11n Isn’t A Final Spec?

@Geisrud: IS awesome. Present tense.

tex1ntux

@UofITom: Yep been holding off till it was final as well.

@nutbastard: Nope. Each letter after 802.11 is a different spec or revision. a, b, g, and n are the common wireless LAN protocols supported in hardware, whereas others deal with security, bridging and such. The full list is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#Standard_and_amendments

drakino

@Yinzers Are Celebrating the Stanley Cup: They didn't use "o" because it could look like a zero. They also don't use "l" because it could look like a one.

The other letters have been used, you've just never heard of the documents. Like 802.11h, which defines a mechanism for detecting and avoiding interference in the 5 GHz UNII band, or 802.11r, which defines fast-roaming for VoIP, or 802.11s, which defines mesh architectures, or at least it will when it's finished.

Joshua Bardwell

@bosskev: 802.12 was not actually available, but they wouldn't have used it anyway. All addendums to the 802.11 standard will be designated by letters. If a new standard is created, it'll be given a new number, like 802.16 (WiMax). That's just how the IEEE does it.

802.11ac is only confusing if you're unfamiliar with counting in base-26. When they get to "z", they just roll over the "tens" place and keep going. aa, ab, ac, ad, etc...

Joshua Bardwell

@ryguyli: They do... there are adapters you can plug into your AC power outlet that will transfer a network signal throughout your house to other adapters plugged into AC. If they use AC they will probably be confused with those silly power line level network devices.

bustedchain

maybe they wanted to be like google, keep it in spec

briansaysdie

@Yinzers Are Celebrating the Stanley Cup: Alright, so it appears hyperlinks are not automatically inserted, you've gotta stick the HTML in yourself. Good to know.

@The Power User's Guide to this Web Site.

isn't 'n' just the current revision of the spec? seems intuitive enough to me.

nutbastard

@ryguyli: Hilarity would ensue. It always does.

@Yinzers Are Celebrating the Stanley Cup: There's a power user's guide to this Website?

I've been on board with Giz for a long time and I've never heard of such a thing. I should think I would get the signed collector's edition...

Do they ever share the differences in the drafts? Like between draft N and final because I am betting Dlink wont make me a firmware upgrade for final N goodness.

awdark

I did know that 802.11n is not final. However, it's currently something like the RTM on big software releases. Nothing is going to change unless something really nasty comes up.

@the_amazing_doug: You mean like PCI-X was awesome?

@all of the 802.x standards.

I'll upgrade once it is final.

@here.

@UofITom: I'm the same way. I did consider purchasing a Draft-N router that had guaranteed compliance once the standard was met but couldn't justify the extra cost. The company basically said if they couldn't fix it with a firmware flash, they'd replace the hardware with something compliant. I liked that reassurance.

Obviously they can't just go and say "Oh, we're out of 802.11 letters, let's go for 802.12"... 802.11 is "the wireless standard", just as 802.3 is Ethernet ("the wired standard"). A/B/G/N are just different "types" of the wireless standard. So to say "Oh, let's just use 802.12" would be like saying "Oh, F-35 is as high as we can go, let's use G-1 next". Not quite...

It is confusing, however, why they won't just continue sequencing the letters. Perhaps O through Z were used internally, but come on, they shouldn't consider letters "used" until they're actually finalized. Isn't that the whole point of standards?

@bosskev: Probably.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802

so there's a, b, g, and n. to me, that's 22 letters short of running out. i'm no genius by any means, but come on. i'd love to have a 802.11X router.

because X = awesome factor.

the_amazing_doug

@bosskev: Actually, 802.12 is probably NOT available. The way standardization and names work can be confusing at times. It's not EXACTLY an "upgrade number" tracking system.

With that said, it's a shame that generally the internet isn't case sensitive. Because if they wanted to keep the .11 standard capital letters could be used otherwise--with tech the way it is though, N and n are the same thing, so 802.11n or 802.11N would be equal.

Could be one of those names that catches on though--"802.11 cap-g" could be like "802.11 capital g". Cap-n would make me want some cereal though...

well, that would imply a different frequency (albeit a small difference). Just do what they do with Hurricanes, start calling it 802.11alpha, beta, etc.

@goo2: Wikipedia has a list of what all the letters are for.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#Standard_and_amendments
It looks like most of them are just amendments.

cattrain

It isn't. 802.12 was used and disbanded.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802

I doubt that the IEE will go and reuse numbers.

Jeffsmashkot

@bosskev:

802.11 is an IEEE standard. Just like 802.5 which is token ring and 802.3 is ethernet. They are just 1 of many standards.

Honestly, I do not know why they chose 11 for wireless but its just a whole standardized system. *shrug* take any networking 101 and you will learn all this.

vgerik1234

@goo2: I would have disemvoweled this comment, but I fear the banhammer...

I haven't bought a 802.11n BECAUSE the spec isn't finalized.

UofITom

802.12 would indicate another technology similar to networking.

the IEEE always stated that their spec for 802.11n would come in 2009/2010.

I could be completely wrong on this, but I think I remember that 1080p was also used way before it became a standardized broadcast definition.

@bosskev: I thought the same, but then I Googled 802.12 and found this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.12 so it appears that 802.12 isn't available...that still doesn't explain why the letter O isn't next.

EDIT: "The Power User's Guide to this Website" told me the comment system made links automagically but that doesn't seem to be the case. GitemSteveDave, help!

duh...

...whut.

They've run out of letters? Not in the alphabet I know.

goo2

@Lite: is on a boat.: That would be the definition of "not finalized", yes.

"...so they'll be confusingly called things like 802.11ac."

Because 802.12 was not available?

I thought the hardware and radio specs were finalized, but that we were still waiting on the signalling/software spec to be ratified.

I can only imagine the confusion that would ensue if companies started marketing "Wireless AC" routers.

ryguyli