A new, advanced Wi-Fi is almost here. But don’t rush to upgrade.

By Robert Plunkett
Senior Financial Editor

The world of Wi-Fi is advancing once again. And consumers will be left to decide for themselves whether to upgrade their equipment. Within months, consumers will be inundated with news of a new, advanced Wi-Fi that will be faster and more secure. But at first glance, it seems in many cases, the answer will be “No.”

Today, most Wi-Fi runs on a platform called 802.11n that was introduced in 2007. It offers wireless throughput of up to 300 megabits per second per stream. The new Wi-Fi, called 802.11ac, will boost bandwidth (up to 867 megabits per second per stream) and make reliable connections with few dropouts.

Manufacturers are already embracing it with new hardware licensed under the WiFi Alliance, a trade consortium that owns the Wi-Fi trademark. At the CES trade show in Las Vegas this January, device makers were showing off the new products which will be on sale by summer.
Exciting news. But while 802.11ac Wi-Fi gear should start appearing on store shelves in the next few months, the platform won’t be finalized until 2013.

This something similar to the introduction of 802.11n Wi-Fi and we should have learned our lesson. Back in 2007, device makers were eager to jump on the faster Wi-Fi bandwagon and began building so-called “draft N” hardware based on draft versions of the 802.11n specifications. Basically, they were gambling that the final version of the specification would not change much so their early products would be compatible. Draft-N hardware hit the market in 2007, and the Wi-Fi Alliance started certifying devices compatible based on the second draft of the spec. The final 802.11n specs however weren’t published until October 2009. At this point the early devices had been on the market for almost two years and many were incompatible.

The same thing is happening with 802.11ac. Work on the specification has already been underway for years, and the initial technical specification was published last year. So far this year, Quantenna, Redpine, and Broadcom have all announced 802.11ac technology targeting everything from base stations to smartphones. Even though the standard likely won’t be finalized until the end of 2013, device makers are already rushing to get their 802.11ac to market – hoping not to be left behind.

The new Wi-Fi standard promises to be a hugh improvement over today’s 802.11n Wi-Fi. In rough terms, 802.11ac should offer about four times the bandwidth of today’s’ 802.11n Wi-Fi. That means faster downloads, and better use of battery power, since devices’ will be able to process more data in less time.

But what’s not being said is that consumers with 802.11n Wi-Fi won’t have to throw anything away: 802.11ac will be backward compatible with 802.11n base stations. So while consumers using old 802.11n equipment won’t see any improvements, they can easily add 802.11ac devices to enjoy the new speeds and stability.

The 802.11ac Wi-Fi standards will offer several major improvements over 802.11n that will help networks support a larger number of high-bandwidth devices as well as make connections more reliable and have less interference. Today’s’ 802.11n Wi-Fi still operates in the unlicensed 2.4GHz frequency band, which is shared by everything from cordless phones to Bluetooth devices to baby monitors and microwave ovens. Tons of things can interfere with today’s Wi-Fi. The 802.11ac Wi-Fi shifts up to to the 5GHz band, away from common forms of interference and will be more reliable in homes and offices. And the 5GHz band offers better penetration of ceilings and walls, enabling better reception in buildings.

It’s not a miracle cure, however. Many cordless phones and devices like WHDI (wireless high-def video) also run in the 5MHz band, as existing dual-band Wi-Fi solutions are already operating there. Still, the 5GHz band is currently much less crowded than the 2.4 Ghz band, meaning 802.11ac will be more reliable.

The new Wi-Fi will also offer better speeds. The 802.11n Wi-Fi has a maximum channel width of 40MHz (actually, two 20MHz channels). 802.11ac can double or even quadruple that to 80MHz or 160MHz per channel, thanks to operating entirely in the 5GHz band. A single 80MHz channel running 802.11ac can handle up to 433Mbps. And since both access points and devices can theoretically pack multiple antennas, giving them more connections and more throughput, a two-antenna system running 80MHz channels offers double the bandwidth of a one-antenna system and can reach 867 Mbps. Bump that up to four antennas and it hits speeds of 1.73Gbps. If a device supports the optional 160 MHz channels, it will boost speeds again.

Reality, however, is rarely so simple. All those figures reflect optimum conditions and assume just a single pair of Wi-Fi devices. So take the hype with a grain of salt. In fact, in many cases, you might not benefit from any of the new advances. Basically, 802.11ac simply builds on technologies introduced with 802.11n to better manage data streams. What inspired the geek-mentality types is that each 802.11ac device will be able to transmit or receive independent data streams at the same time. These streams will be separated spatially, rather than by frequency. Spatial stream resolution is kind of sci-fi stuff, and not so different than the technologies in 802.11n. In short, the new devices will have smart antennas that let them determine the approximate locations of other devices in an area, and tailor their transmissions toward those devices using phased array technologies. What that means is instead of broadcasting all data to every device within range, devices are able to target their transmissions, significantly improving efficiency and performance while reducing interference. That makes the geeks happy.

Here’s the kicker. Faster Wi-Fi does not necessarily mean faster Internet – especially for home users.

Although 802.11ac Wi-Fi may be able to tick along at speeds of gigabit Ethernet, most users’ home Internet connections don’t run at anywhere near that capacity. Even top-tier home Internet services like Verizon FiOS and Comcast can deliver up to 100Mbps or 150Mbps in bandwidth. That’s about one fifth to one tenth of the bandwidth 802.11ac can handle. Even the fastest home broadband connections will be a bottleneck to an 802.11ac network. Data from the Internet isn’t going to reach 802.11ac Wi-Fi devices any faster than it reaches 802.11n, or even older 802.11g devices.

Everyone craves speed, but most home broadband systems operate at considerably slower speeds than advertised. The average broadband connection speed in the U.S. is 6.14Mbps, according to a State of the Internet report from Akamai Technologies, which designs Wi-Fi solutions for corporations. And home-use speed is even lower according to the Akamai report which included universities, government agencies, and large companies.

That doesn’t mean 802.11ac is a complete wash. It will help users push data around their home networks faster. That means arduous tasks like backing up entire media collections will take substantially less time. Tasks such as synchronizing data, offloading photos and videos from mobile devices to a computer, and even streaming video to set-top boxes and game consoles will be much smoother without stutters or hiccups.

The real winners will be businesses, schools and organizations with high-capacity networks and major Internet bandwidth which can use 802.11ac technology to improve overall Internet performance.

The bottom line, of course, is whether to buy into 802.11ac. The answer is “probably not” for everyday technology users who simply won’t see tremendous immediate benefits. Users should allow it to happen naturally when they replace computers, smartphones, tablets, and other Wi-Fi devices and automatically get 802.11ac as a built-in standard. For users already on 802.11n networks, that day may never come. Their new devices with 802.11ac Wi-Fi may spend their entire useful lives operating on 802.11n networks.

Users who still haven’t upgraded their home networks to 802.11n should consider picking up a dual-mode 802.11n router. You’ll have backward compatibility with existing 802.11b/g devices, but be able to support 802.11n and 802.11ac devices.

People, who are building new networks – for homes or business – can go with go with 802.11ac – but only if they are not supporting pre-N devices. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect an 802.11ac network to serve your Wi-Fi needs through 2017. But remember, until the standard is finalized, your gear might be left behind and there’s no guarantee the final standard will support your “new” equipment. .