The impending 802.11n Wi-Fi standard, which promises spectacularly fast networking, won’t be final for months. But products based on the first draft of the standard are here. After conducting preliminary testing, however, the result is quite disappointing and draft-n gear not up to marks.

With WPA2 encryption turned on, draft-n–compliant routers and PC Cards from Buffalo Technology’s Nfiniti, Linksys’s Wireless-N, and Netgear’s Range-Max Next lines were slower at close and medium ranges than older Linksys SRX400 products based on the Airgo Networks True MIMO Gen3 technology. And while the average medium-range speed of 24 megabits per second for the draft-n products was more than double the 11-mbps rate for a standard 802.11g network with no speed-boosting technology, it still fell far short of 10/100 ethernet’s 80 mbps.

At long-range distance, Netgear’s RangeMax Next router and PC Card did beat the SRX400 products but the Buffalo and Linksys could not hold a connection long enough to complete the test.

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Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), StarHub and MobileOne - the country’s three biggest phone operators - are among nine companies bidding to build a national wireless Internet network, the Government said yesterday.

The winning bids will be selected in September, Mr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts, said at the CommunicAsia trade show. He did not specify how many bids would be considered.

The network is part of the Government’s plan to boost Singapore’s competitiveness in technology against regional rivals including China, Japan and South Korea.

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City-wide Wi-Fi gains currency
Despite the controversy, municipal Wi-Fi appears to be an unstoppable force. While the short-term impact will be minimal, operators are starting to wake up to the longer-term threats - VoIP calls over Wi-Fi cutting into their roaming business and users switching off fixed-line DSL

Advice for Cities Considering Wireless
If they don’t talk to other municipalities, they should at least listen to this analyst, who talked to the people in the trenches for advice on what to do long before you deploy your first Wi-Fi node.

The latest generation of wireless routers are faster, cheaper and more secure than previous models. Some also come with extended range Wi-Fi that can connect computers up to 300 meters away.

Linksys WRT54GX
The Linksys WRT54GX Wireless-G Broadband router with SRX (Speed and Range eXpansion) technology has decent throughput at short range, average around 28Mbps, but long distance speed is where is excels. There are three adjustable antennas, WPA security an a SPI firewall.

Read the details review here.

Netgear RangeMax 240
With three antennas sticking out the back, you know this router means business. It’s one of the fastest and uses Smart MIMO technology to monitor for interference from walls and other obstacles. Performance is impressive and it has a simple and straightforward installation.

Reviews of this product can be found here and here.

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Beceem Communications has achieved first-pass silicon success on a multimillion-gate, low-power Mobile WiMAX design using Blast Create, Blast Fusion , Blast Plan Pro, Blast Power and Blast Noise electronic design automation software. Beceem cellular carrier customers are already testing samples of Mobile WiMAX ICs in their next-generation systems.

Magma’s software concurrently address timing, power, area and noise and incorporates key capabilities, such as design-for-test (DFT) insertion and a sign-off-quality timing, into a single environment. With its integrated RTL-to-GDSII flow, Beceem was able to implement and sign-off on the design 30 percent faster.

Source EFYTimes.com

SMC networks has announced the launch of the SMC Wireless Travel Voice Gateway (SMCWTVG), which integrates the functions of a wireless gateway and VoIP technology into one perfect device for business traveller. Users can now select different functions based on their specific needs in different networking environments and also have the option to use the RJ11 voice interface for VoIP calls and life-line function.

Features like Network Address Translation (NAT), SPI Firewall and VPN pass-through give users the ability to construct a secure network. While using a public hot-spots, the SMCWTVG enhances security through its advanced Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) and Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption. The wireless SSID broadcast on / off capability and MAC address filtering serves as an additional safeguard.

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The performance of Wi-Fi devices could suffer as the 2.4 GHz ISM band becomes more popular and congested. There’s a solution for this : Wi-Spy. THe world’s smaller 2.4 GHz spectrum snalyser. Designed specifically for troubleshooting and analysing Wi-Fi networks, it shows the signal strength for all Wi-Fi networks as well as Bluetooth, 2.4 GHz cordless phones, microwaves, Zigbee and all other 2.4 GHz transmitters.

It help in identifying a Wi-Fi interface and possesses a frequency range of 2.400 - 2.485 GHz.

Wi-Fi Network on Channel 11

Product maker : MetaGeek