On September 14, the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) finally approved the final version of the WiFi 802.11n wireless standard. To say that the process of adopting the specifications was delayed is to say nothing: devices supporting the first preliminary version of the standard could be purchased at the end of 2006, but they did not work very stably. Devices that support the second preliminary version of the standard (draft 2.0), which eliminates most of the “childhood diseases,” have become widespread. They have been on sale for about two years now, and their owners do not complain about the abundance of problems with wireless communications: they work and work. And quite quickly and stably.
Why is the new version of everyone's favorite Wi-Fi better than the old one? The maximum theoretical speed for the 802.11b standard is 11 Mbit/s at a frequency of the 2.4 GHz band, for 802.11a – 54 Mbit/s at 5 GHz, and for 802.11g – also 54 Mbit/s, but at 2.4 GHz. 802.11n has a variable frequency band and can be either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz, and the maximum speed reaches an astounding 600 Mbps. Of course, in theory. In practice, it is possible to squeeze out a “more mundane”, but still impressive 150 Mbit/s from 802.11n. We also note that thanks to the support of both frequency bands, backward compatibility with both 802.11a and 802.11b/g is achieved.
Several technologies have made it possible to improve speed performance. Firstly, MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output), the essence of which is to equip devices with several transmitters operating at the same frequency and divide data streams between them. Secondly, the developers used technology that allows the use of not one, but two frequency channels with a width of 20 MHz each. If necessary, they work either separately or together, merging into one wide 40-MHz channel. In addition, IEEE 802.11n uses an OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) modulation scheme - thanks to it (specifically, thanks to the use of 52 subcarriers, of which 48 are intended directly for data transmission, and 4 for pilot signals), the data transmission speed is one by one spatial stream can reach 65 Mbit/s. There can be from one to four such flows in each direction.
The situation with coverage areas and reception stability has also improved significantly. Remember the famous proverb “One head is good, but two are better”? So, the same principle applies here: there are now several transmitters, as well as antennas, which means that all this equipment will be able to catch the network better - it will most likely not be possible to find yourself outside the zone of the access point located on the next floor.
Situation in Russia
In the fall, the Radio Research Institute (NIIR) will prepare standards for the use of equipment for operating the 802.11n wireless communication standard in Russia. Currently, the equipment that supports it can only be used in intranet networks, but after the adoption of regulatory legal acts it will be possible to use it in public networks.
According to Dmitry Laryushin, director of technical policy at Intel in Russia, the approval of the standard by the IEEE will certainly play a positive role in the development and implementation of regulatory rules in the Russian Federation, which will open the way for the import and use of 802.11n equipment in our country. It is worth noting that the 11n protocol in version D2.0 has been supported by Intel WiFi products since 2007, but in compliance with the rules for the import and use of radio-electronic equipment adopted in Russia, the 11n option had to be disabled. Starting next year, subject to a positive decision by the SCRF and the implementation of regulations on this technology, Intel products with support for WiFi 11n in the final version of the standard will be supplied to the Russian market.
Not all equipment manufacturers adhere to the letter of the law: some companies have been supplying network equipment to Russia that supports the 802.11n standard for a long time. Nothing prevents manufacturers from selling laptops on the Russian market equipped with WiFi modules supporting 802.11n, which are produced by Intel.
The fastest growing segment of telecommunications today is Wireless Local Area Network (WiFi). In recent years, there has been an increasing increase in demand for mobile devices based on wireless technologies.
It is worth noting that WiFi products transmit and receive information using radio waves. Multiple simultaneous broadcasts can occur without mutual interference due to the fact that radio waves are transmitted on different radio frequencies, also known as channels. To transmit information, WiFi devices must “overlay” data onto a radio wave, also known as a carrier wave. This process is called modulation. There are different types of modulation, which we will look at next. Each type of modulation has its own advantages and disadvantages in terms of efficiency and power requirements. Together, the operating range and modulation type define the physical data layer (PHY) for data communication standards. Products are PHY compatible when they use the same band and modulation type.
The first wireless networking standard, 802.11, was approved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 1997 and supported data transfer rates of up to 2 Mbps. The standard modulation technology schemes used are: pseudo-random tuning of the operating frequency (FHSS - Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) and wideband modulation with direct spectrum expansion (DSSS - Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum).
Then, in 1999, IEEE approved two more WiFi wireless network standards: 802.11a and 802.11b. The 802.11a standard operates in the 5 GHz frequency range with data transfer rates of up to 54 Mbit/s. This standard is based on the digital modulation technology of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing). The 802.11b standard uses the 2.4 GHz frequency range and achieves data transfer rates of up to 11 Mbit/s. Unlike the 802.11a standard, the 802.11b standard is designed according to the DSSS principle.
Since DSSS is easier to implement than OFDM, products using the 802.11b standard began to appear on the market earlier (since 1999). Since then, wireless radio access products using the 802.11b standard have been widely used in corporations, offices, homes, country cottages, public places (hot spots), etc. All products certified by the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) are marked with the officially registered WiFi logo. The WECA Alliance (or Wi-Fi Alliance) includes all major manufacturers of wireless devices based on WiFi technology. The Alliance is committed to certifying, marking, and testing equipment using WiFi technologies for compatibility.
In early 2001, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ratified new rules that allowed additional modulation in the 2.4 GHz band. This allowed IEEE to extend the 802.11b standard, resulting in support for higher data rates. Thus, the 802.11g standard appeared, which operates at data transfer rates of up to 54 Mbit/s and was developed using ODFM technology.
Wi-Fi frequencies
Wireless Internet connectivity is now available to everyone. It is enough to connect a wifi system in your home, country house or office and you can receive a signal without worrying about endless wires, telephone connections, modems and communication cards. A wifi router is a router that makes decisions about forwarding packet data for various modular network segments. Simply put, if you have one or more laptops in your home and they all need to connect to the Internet, then a wireless router solves this problem. The wifi system independently finds your laptops and establishes a connection to the Internet. A standard wireless router design provides at least one connection. Internet distribution occurs at various frequencies. For the Russian Federation, frequencies are provided and allocated in the range from 5150-5350 MHz to 5650-6425 MHz. These frequencies are basic; no special permission is required to operate in these ranges. Fixed wireless access 5150-5350 MHz and 5650-6425 MHz provides high speed data transfer on the Internet. To find a free communication channel, it is necessary to coordinate the network connection with the administrations of other networks. Each network must use a frequency channel separated from the other channel by a 25 MHz band.
802.11a standard – High performance and speed.
By using the 5 GHz frequency and OFDM modulation, this standard has two key advantages over the 802.11b standard. Firstly, it is a significantly increased data transfer speed over communication channels. Secondly, the number of non-overlapping channels has increased. The 5 GHz band (also known as UNII) actually consists of three sub-bands: UNII1 (5.15 – 5.25 GHz), UNII2 (5.25 – 5.35 GHz) and UNII3 (5.725 – 5.825 GHz). When using two subbands UNII1 and UNII2 simultaneously, we get up to eight non-overlapping channels versus only three in the 2.4 GHz band. This standard also has much more available bandwidth. Thus, using the 802.11a standard, you can support more simultaneous, more productive, contention-free wireless connections.
It is worth noting that since Since 802.11a and 802.11b standards operate in different bands, products developed for these standards are not compatible. For example, a WiFi access point operating in the 2.4 GHz band, standard 802.11b, will not work with a wireless network card whose operating range is 5 GHz. However, both standards can coexist. For example, users connected to access points that use different standards can also use any internal resources of that network, provided that these access points are connected to the same core network.
It is also important to know that in Europe and Russia the 5 GHz band is used exclusively for military purposes; accordingly, it is prohibited for use for any other purposes.
802.11g – High speed in the 2.4 GHz band.
802.11g brings higher data rates while maintaining compatibility with 802.11b products. The standard operates using DSSS modulation at speeds up to 11 Mbit/s, but additionally uses OFDM modulation at speeds above 11 Mbit/s. Thus, equipment of the 802.11b and 802.11g standards is compatible at speeds not exceeding 11 Mbit/s. If in the 2.4 GHz range you need a speed higher than 11 Mbit/s, then you need to use 802.11g equipment.
We can say that the 802.11g standard combines all the best from the 802.11b and 802.11a standards.
Hi all! Today we will talk again about routers, wireless networks, technologies...
I decided to prepare an article in which I would talk about what kind of strange letters b/g/n are these that can be found when setting up a Wi-Fi router, or when purchasing a device (Wi-Fi characteristics, for example 802.11 b/g). And what is the difference between these standards.
Now we’ll try to figure out what these settings are and how to change them in the router settings and actually why change the operating mode of the wireless network.
Means b/g/n– this is the operating mode of the wireless network (Mode).
There are three (main) modes of Wi-Fi 802.11 operation. This is b/g/n. What is the difference? They differ in maximum data transfer speed (I heard that there is also a difference in the wireless network coverage area, but I don’t know how true this is).
Let's go into more detail:
b- This is the slowest mode. Up to 11 Mbit/s.
g– maximum data transfer rate 54 Mbit/s
n– new and high-speed mode. Up to 600 Mbit/s
So, that means we’ve sorted out the regimes. But we still need to figure out why to change them and how to do it.
Why change the wireless network operating mode?
Everything is very simple here, let's use an example. Here we have an iPhone 3GS, it can work on the Internet via Wi-Fi only in b/g modes (if the characteristics do not lie). That is, in a new, high-speed mode n it cannot work, it simply does not support it.
And if on your router, the wireless network operating mode will be n, without any mixed stuff, then you won’t be able to connect this phone to Wi-Fi, even if you hit your head against the wall :).
But it doesn’t have to be a phone, much less an iPhone. Such incompatibility with the new standard can also be observed on laptops, tablets, etc.
I have already noticed several times that with a variety of problems with connecting phones or tablets to Wi-Fi, changing the Wi-Fi operating mode helps.
If you want to see what modes your device supports, then look at its specifications. Typically supported modes are listed next to “Wi-Fi 802.11”.
On the package (or on the Internet), you can also see in what modes your router can operate.
Here is an example of the supported standards that are indicated on the adapter box:
How to change the b/g/n operating mode in the Wi-Fi router settings?
I'll show you how to do this using the example of two routers, from ASUS And TP-Link. But if you have a different router, then look for changing the wireless network mode settings (Mode) on the Wi-Fi settings tab, where you set the name for the network, etc.
On a TP-Link router
Go to the router settings. How to enter them? I'm already tired of writing about this in almost every article :)..
Once you are in the settings, go to the tab on the left Wireless – Wireless Settings.
And opposite the point Mode You can select the wireless network operating standard. There are many options there. I recommend installing 11bgn mixed. This item allows you to connect devices that operate in at least one of three modes.
But if you still have problems connecting certain devices, then try the 11bg mixed, or 11g only. And to achieve a good data transfer speed, you can set 11n only. Just make sure that all devices support the standard n.
Using the example of an ASUS router
It's the same here. Go to settings and go to the tab "Wireless network".
Opposite the point “Wireless Network Mode” you can choose one of the standards. Or install Mixed, or Auto (which is what I recommend doing). For more details on standards, see just above. By the way, ASUS displays help on the right where you can read useful and interesting information on these settings.
To save, click the button “Apply”.
That's all, friends. I'm waiting for your questions, advice and suggestions in the comments. Bye everyone!
Also on the site:
What is b/g/n in the router settings? Changing the wireless network operating mode (Mode) in the Wi-Fi router settings updated: July 28, 2013 by: admin
The Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) wireless communication protocol was developed back in 1996. It was originally intended for building local networks, but gained the greatest popularity as an effective method of connecting smartphones and other portable devices to the Internet.
Over the course of 20 years, the alliance of the same name has developed several generations of the connection, introducing faster and more functional updates every year. They are described by 802.11 standards published by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). The group includes several versions of the protocol, differing in data transfer speed and support for additional functions.
The very first Wi-Fi standard did not have a letter designation. Devices that support it communicate at a frequency of 2.4 GHz. The information transfer speed was only 1 Mbit/s. There were also devices that supported speeds of up to 2 Mbit/s. It was actively used for only 3 years, after which it was improved. Each subsequent Wi-Fi standard is designated by a letter after the common number (802.11a/b/g/n, etc.).
One of the first updates to the Wi-Fi standard, released in 1999. By doubling the frequency (up to 5 GHz), engineers were able to achieve theoretical speeds of up to 54 Mbit/s. It was not widely used, since it itself is incompatible with other versions. Devices that support it must have a dual transceiver to operate on 2.4 GHz networks. Smartphones with Wi-Fi 802.11a are not widespread.
Wi-Fi standard IEEE 802.11b
The second early interface update, released in parallel with version a. The frequency remained the same (2.4 GHz), but the speed was increased to 5.5 or 11 Mbit/s (depending on the device). Until the end of the first decade of the 2000s, it was the most common standard for wireless networks. Compatibility with the older version, as well as a fairly large coverage radius, ensured its popularity. Despite being superseded by new versions, 802.11b is supported by almost all modern smartphones.
Wi-Fi standard IEEE 802.11g
A new generation of Wi-Fi protocol was introduced in 2003. The developers left the data transmission frequencies the same, making the standard fully compatible with the previous one (old devices operated at speeds of up to 11 Mbit/s). The information transfer speed has increased to 54 Mbit/s, which was sufficient until recently. All modern smartphones work with 802.11g.
Wi-Fi standard IEEE 802.11n
In 2009, a large-scale update to the Wi-Fi standard was released. The new version of the interface has received a significant increase in speed (up to 600 Mbit/s), while maintaining compatibility with previous ones. To be able to work with 802.11a equipment, as well as combat congestion in the 2.4 GHz band, support for 5 GHz frequencies has been returned (parallel to 2.4 GHz).
Network configuration options have been expanded and the number of simultaneously supported connections has been increased. It has become possible to communicate in multi-stream MIMO mode (parallel transmission of several data streams on the same frequency) and combine two channels for communication with one device. The first smartphones supporting this protocol were released in 2010.
Wi-Fi standard IEEE 802.11ac
In 2014, a new Wi-Fi standard, IEEE 802.11ac, was approved. It became a logical continuation of 802.11n, providing a tenfold increase in speed. Thanks to the ability to combine up to 8 channels (20 MHz each) simultaneously, the theoretical ceiling has increased to 6.93 Gbit/s. which is 24 times faster than 802.11n.
It was decided to abandon the 2.4 GHz frequency due to the congestion of the range and the impossibility of combining more than 2 channels. The IEEE 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard operates in the 5 GHz band and is backward compatible with 802.11n (2.4 GHz) devices, but is not guaranteed to work with earlier versions. Today, not all smartphones support it (for example, many budget smartphones on MediaTek do not have support).
Other standards
There are versions of IEEE 802.11 labeled with different letters. But they either make minor amendments and additions to the standards listed above, or add specific functions (such as the ability to interact with other radio networks or security). It is worth highlighting 802.11y, which uses a non-standard frequency of 3.6 GHz, as well as 802.11ad, designed for the 60 GHz range. The first is designed to provide a communication range of up to 5 km, through the use of pure range. The second (also known as WiGig) is designed to provide maximum (up to 7 Gbit/s) communication speed over ultra-short distances (within a room).
Which Wi-Fi standard is better for a smartphone?
All modern smartphones are equipped with a Wi-Fi module designed to work with several versions of 802.11. In general, all mutually compatible standards are supported: b, g and n. However, work with the latter can often be realized only at a frequency of 2.4 GHz. Devices that are capable of operating on 5 GHz 802.11n networks also feature support for 802.11a as backwards compatible.
An increase in frequency helps to increase the speed of data exchange. But at the same time, the wavelength decreases, making it more difficult for it to pass through obstacles. Because of this, the theoretical range of 2.4 GHz will be higher than 5 GHz. However, in practice the situation is a little different.
The 2.4 GHz frequency turned out to be free, so consumer electronics use it. In addition to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth devices, transceivers of wireless keyboards and mice operate in this range, and magnetrons of microwave ovens also emit in this range. Therefore, in places where several Wi-Fi networks operate, the amount of interference offsets the range advantage. The signal will be caught even from a hundred meters away, but the speed will be minimal, and the loss of data packets will be large.
The 5 GHz band is wider (from 5170 to 5905 MHz) and less congested. Therefore, waves are less able to overcome obstacles (walls, furniture, human bodies), but in direct visibility conditions they provide a more stable connection. The inability to effectively overcome walls turns out to be an advantage: you won’t be able to catch your neighbor’s Wi-Fi, but it won’t interfere with your router or smartphone.
However, it should be remembered that to achieve maximum speed, you also need a router that works with the same standard. In other cases, you still won’t be able to get more than 150 Mbit/s.
Much depends on the router and its antenna type. Adaptive antennas are designed in such a way that they detect the location of the smartphone and send it a directional signal that reaches further than other types of antennas.
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