An agreement between the Wi-Fi alliance and the Wireless Gigabit Alliance is now allowing the Wi-Fi Alliance to create new specs and standards and adopt the 60-GHz frequency band for Wi-fi.
Todays Wi-fi bands operate within 2.4-5 GHz bands and are measured in low hundreds of megabits per second. The new 60GHz frequency will allow speeds in the gigabits per second range of 1 gigabits per second to 6 gbps, in contrast to Wi-fi speeds at the moment of 150 Mbps for 802.11n.
Moving to the 60GHz frequency for Wi-fi may be the first step toward helping consumers go truly wireless, says Xavier Ortiz (analyst at ABI Research). The main drawback with 60GHz is that the higher frequency waves have a much shorter range and will not be able to go thorugh walls, acting like a beam of light and using line of sight.
Routers able to switch between the switch between 2.4 Ghz or 5 GHz and the 60-GHz band should be available within the next two years.
Via Gadget Lab
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