Wi-Fi standards

802.11ac is a wifi standard which is released in 2013.

The older ones are

802.11a (introduced in 1999)

 802.11b (2000)

 802.11g (2003)

802.11n (2007)

Latest Wi-Fi standard 802.11ac is compatible with all the earlier standards so no need to change any devices if you plan to use 802.11ac ONU/ONT.

Wi-Fi speed theoretical maximums

Standard 802.11ac is capable of 1167 megabits per second (Mbps) .This is about 3 times faster than the typical 450Mbps speed attributed to 802.11n.

802.11ac supports maximum of eight antennas with roughly 400Mbits each. But  802.11n support only maximum 4 antennas with 100Mbit each.

Reach and signal strength of 802.11ac and 802.11n

Both 802.11ac and 802.11n have almost same range they didn’t show a huge difference. But 802.11ac use` 5GHz always, whereas 802.11n uses 2.5GHz.

The lower band travels more than higher bands but higher bands are more faster.

The 2.5GHz band is used for home devices like microwaves, cordless phones which will interfere with devices running in this band. So it will affect the signal of ONU/ONT Wi-Fi working in 802.11n standard(2.5GHZ). But 802.11ac is working in a 5GHz band which remains interference free for a cleaner signal. So it is ‘Quiet’ meaning much less interference from neighborhood Wi-Fi and other devices.

Beamforming technology in 802.11ac

In 802.11n wifi signal is propagating like waves formed while we put a stone in water. But in 802.11ac a technology called beamforming is used. It is also called ‘smart signal’ because it detects where connected devices are and increase signal strength specifically in that direction.

Our 802.11ac wave2 ONU/ONT supports MU-MIMO which is explained in the below pictures