wi-fi alliance

Wi-Fi to cultivate speedy 60GHz band

If you still don't know the difference between the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands of a simultaneous dual-band router like the Cisco Linksys E3000, you'd better hurry and learn. Another Wi-Fi band is on the way.

The Wi-Fi Alliance and Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig Alliance) announced Monday an agreement on a new standard of multigigabit wireless networking.

Under the agreement, the two groups will co-develop new specifications for the next-generation Wi-Fi standard that works the 60GHz frequency (or band).

Currently, Wi-Fi signals work either in the ever-popular 2.4GHz frequency or the newer 5GHz frequency. The 5GHz is considered cleaner as it doesn't share the same frequency with other wireless home devices such as cordless phones or Bluetooth devices. A dual-band router supports both of them at the same time. Both of these bands offer wireless-N speeds up to 300Mbps, with the possibility of higher speeds up to 750Mbps. In reality, however, these two bands' sustained throughput speeds are still much slower than that of a wired gigabit connection. … Read more

WiGig group opens way to gigabit wireless devices

Wireless devices that run at speeds in gigabits rather than megabits have been given the green light to hit the consumer market.

The Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) announced Monday that its 60GHz multi-gigabit wireless technology is now available for member companies to start turning out products that use the new high-speed standard.

Operating at the unused frequency of 60GHz, the WiGig standard can theoretically deliver speeds of up to 7 gigabits per second (Gbps), more than 10 times faster than the current 802.11n Wi-Fi, or Wireless N, rate.

Finalized last December, WiGig is not meant to replace existing Wi-Fi … Read more

Wi-Fi Direct becomes real at CES 2010

LAS VEGAS--It's not like I need any more reasons to love Wi-Fi; my iPhone attests to that everyday. However, the Wi-Fi Alliance, a nonprofit group that promotes the use of Wi-Fi technology, has something it believes will make you love this popular way for devices to connect even more--especially owners of electronics that, for now, are not known to be Wi-Fi-enabled.

It is called "Wi-Fi Direct." and for the first time it's now being demonstrated at CES 2010.

First introduced back in October, Wi-Fi Direct makes connecting Wi-Fi-enabled devices much easier by allowing many of them … Read more

Wi-Fi certification might be tweaked for smart grids

Correction at 2:33 a.m. PDT November 12: This story incorrectly stated the name of the wireless communications technology used by AlertMe. The system uses ZigBee.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has formed a task group to determine what standards need to be modified to ensure Wi-Fi is the tool of choice for smart-grid applications.

The nonprofit industry association that approves devices for the Wi-Fi Certified seal released a report Wednesday called "Wi-Fi for the Smart Grid: Mature, Interoperable, Security-Protected Technology for Advanced Utility Management Communications." The report expounds on all the possibilities for Wi-Fi as a communication tool … Read more

New Wi-Fi spec challenges Bluetooth

A new Wi-Fi specification will let wireless devices discover and connect to one another without a router.

The spec, called Wi-Fi Direct, was announced Wednesday by the Wi-Fi Alliance, the industry group that promotes the technology. By making it much easier for devices to connect directly to each other using Wi-Fi, the new spec could pose a challenge to wireless technologies such Bluetooth.

The way Wi-Fi Direct works is that it allows Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as phones, cameras, printers, computers, keyboards, and headphones to connect to other Wi-Fi devices individually or to multiple devices at once. The spec will support … Read more

Wi-Fi Alliance updates Wi-Fi certification program

Following the finalization of the Wireless-N (802.11n) standard, the Wi-Fi Alliance, a nonprofit group that tests and certifies wireless products to ensure they interoperate, launched on Tuesday its new test program that supports the final specs of the standard.

This certification is still necessary because, according to Kelly Davis-Felner, marketing director of the Wi-Fi Alliance, the final specs include a lot of options and items that vendors could interpret differently, which could lead to products that don't work with each other. "Our certification program ensures that the product conforms with the final standard and interoperates with others.&… Read more

Survey: Wi-Fi becoming smartphone must-have

More and more people expect Wi-Fi from their cell phones, according to a survey released Wednesday by ABI Research.

The survey was conducted in February, with more than 1,000 U.S. mobile-phone users between the ages of 18 and 59 participating.

The results showed that 77 percent of people with Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phones are completely or very satisfied with their devices. Among those who have Wi-Fi on their phones, 74 percent use the feature, and 77 percent say they will also seek Wi-Fi connectivity in their next phone.

According to the study, about 44 percent of smartphones currently have … Read more

The Wi-Fi industry is doing fine, report says

Despite the economic downturn, the Wi-Fi section of the high-tech industry has been doing well.

According to In-Stat and Wi-Fi Alliance, the groups that certify wireless networking devices to ensure their interoperability, Wi-Fi chipsets were sold in a total of 387 million units in 2008, a 26 percent increase from 2007.

This was thanks to the demand by both consumers and businesses for a wide range of Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Almost all new mobile computers now have build-in Wi-Fi and so do most smartphones. The Wi-Fi implementation has branched out to other devices too, such as game consoles or media players. … Read more

The why of Wi-Fi

CNET readers and my friends often ask me if they should upgrade their home network to a Wireless-N (802.11n) router or wait till the current Draft N 2.0 specification is ratified by the IEEE.

The answer is: there's no reason to wait, and here's why.

Wireless-N routers offer much better throughput performance than Wireless-G routers (up to 300Mps as opposed to 54Mbps). They are also offer significantly longer range and better signal stability. Most importantly, they are backward compatible with existing wireless adapters.

What you should make sure, though, is that the router has the Wi-Fi … Read more