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Apple's Base Stations Have Three 802.11n Streams [Faster WiFi on Apple]
WNN Wi-Fi Net News ^ | Saturday, December 5, 2009 | Glenn Fleishman

Posted on 12/06/2009 2:58:13 PM PST by Star Traveler

Apple's Base Stations Have Three 802.11n Streams

DECEMBER 5, 2009

Apple's October revision to its AirPort Extreme Base Station and Time Capsule lets these units run at up to 450 Mbps, 50 percent faster: I knew that Apple had put a 3x3 antenna array into these devices, which could be argued was intended to improve speed-over-range, a common reason to add antennas. (Read the background in my 20 October 2009 article, "Apple Slipstreams 3x3 into Wi-Fi Base Stations.")

But I had heard that Apple had built three streams in, making these devices capable of a raw 450 Mbps operation, or 50 percent faster than nearly everything else on the market. Each stream in 802.11n can carry more data than 802.11g--more than twice as much, in fact, when wide (40 MHz) channels are used. Apple makes wide channels available only in 5 GHz, which isn't unusual; 2.4 GHz is quite crowded and full of competing uses. Thus 450 Mbps is the raw rate in 5 GHz, 225 Mbps in 2.4 GHz.

How do I know this when Apple won't reply to calls and emails on the topic? I was tipped to it by several wireless industry folks who wanted to remain anonymous--nobody likes to offend Apple--but didn't have a definitive label until today.

I regularly check the Wi-Fi Alliance's site for new certifications from Apple, because more information often appears there than the details Apple provides. Sure enough, based on a query from a colleague tonight, I did a search and found that on 3 December 2009, Apple's two Wi-Fi gateways had been labeled with three-stream support for transmit and receive in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.

[Update: The inestimable Tim Higgins of SmallNetBuilder wrote in to note that he had discovered, disassembled, and documented all this a month ago! I'm sorry to have missed it. Read his article in which he also found that Apple had connected a couple of antennas incorrectly. He confirms that it's a Marvell radio; Marvell started shipping three-stream chips nearly two years ago.]

This aggregate of 675 Mbps of raw data (something closer to 400 Mbps of TCP/IP and over 300 Mbps of net throughput) between the two simultaneously available bands is still theoretical: Apple's and most manufacturers' Wi-Fi adapters still are only sport 2x2 antenna arrays with two-stream configurations. (Apple updated its AirPort Extreme certification on 30 November to reach full 802.11n compatibility, too, but only for two streams.)

It's already been asked, but gear from before October with 2x2 arrays cannot be updated to 3x3; it's a hardware change, as is the jump from two streams to three streams.

In the short run, Apple base station buyers will get the benefit of greater range and greater speed over short ranges than with older gear. In the long run, though, there's a big speed boost to come.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 8:10 PM


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: airportextreme; apple; macintosh; wifi
Hmmmm..., a faster AirPort Extreme... for y'all that have them...
1 posted on 12/06/2009 2:58:13 PM PST by Star Traveler
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To: Swordmaker

Something for Apple AirPort Extreme users...


2 posted on 12/06/2009 2:58:58 PM PST by Star Traveler (The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a Zionist and Jerusalem is the apple of His eye.)
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To: Star Traveler

I pick mine up from the Post Office on Monday. Glad to get rid of this stupid Belkin.


3 posted on 12/06/2009 3:02:15 PM PST by cmsgop ( Sergeant Mark Renninger, RIP, I'll miss You Dude)
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To: Star Traveler
An AirPort Extreme from the back-side/plug-in side... :-)


4 posted on 12/06/2009 3:05:00 PM PST by Star Traveler (The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a Zionist and Jerusalem is the apple of His eye.)
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To: cmsgop

You’ll love it.. :-)


5 posted on 12/06/2009 3:05:35 PM PST by Star Traveler (The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a Zionist and Jerusalem is the apple of His eye.)
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To: All
AirPort Extreme at the Apple website...
6 posted on 12/06/2009 3:08:14 PM PST by Star Traveler (The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a Zionist and Jerusalem is the apple of His eye.)
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To: Star Traveler

Do ISPs provide that kind of throughput?


7 posted on 12/06/2009 3:10:50 PM PST by the anti-liberal
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To: the anti-liberal
You were saying ...

Do ISPs provide that kind of throughput?

Well, you have to keep in mind that you're not only talking about ISPs here, but your own network and streaming music and movies around your own network...

But, about the best I can get with my ISP is 25 Megabits down...

8 posted on 12/06/2009 3:19:05 PM PST by Star Traveler (The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a Zionist and Jerusalem is the apple of His eye.)
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To: Star Traveler

Star,
Do you have one of these?
Do you find it superior to a linksys or belkin?

thanks,
Dave


9 posted on 12/06/2009 3:24:05 PM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
You were saying ...

Do you have one of these? Do you find it superior to a linksys or belkin?

Yeah, I do have one of them. It's not the one with the internal hard drive though (that's "Time Machine") but it can hook up a hard drive, if I want to and a printer (so that they'll be on the network for the other computers)

And is it superior? Well, what I would call "superior" is how Apple just makes this stuff work and work well ... :-) I won't go into all the details because that web page from Apple has a lot of details on it.

And I have used a linksys in the past (a number of years ago). It does seem to work better than the linksys. I haven't had a Belkin. And, I've had several Airports now. I've had this present one for about a year.

10 posted on 12/06/2009 3:31:14 PM PST by Star Traveler (The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a Zionist and Jerusalem is the apple of His eye.)
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To: Star Traveler

ST,
Thanks! I currently use a linksys, which seems to need to be reset regularly.

I started by buying and iPhone. They I traded my windows laptop for a macbook pro laptop. It keeps getting deeper...


11 posted on 12/06/2009 3:49:58 PM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
You were saying ...

Thanks! I currently use a linksys, which seems to need to be reset regularly.

Well, in over a year now, there has been no such thing as a reset... :-) It just works and works..., with no problems.

Also, it's not such a bad deal to have a hard drive hooked up to it and also a printer. All the computers in a household can use them.

My iPhone zips along pretty good using the AirPort, too...

12 posted on 12/06/2009 3:55:03 PM PST by Star Traveler (The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a Zionist and Jerusalem is the apple of His eye.)
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To: Star Traveler

bookmark


13 posted on 12/06/2009 4:19:20 PM PST by GOP Poet (Obama is an OLYMPIC failure.)
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To: Star Traveler

Ah, in terms of one’s own network it makes sense. Thanks!


14 posted on 12/06/2009 5:51:39 PM PST by the anti-liberal
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

If you’re interested in optimizing your throughput and in what your router will and will not do, then I would recommend you visit this site: http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index and learn about their FREE and OpenSource software/firmware for routers. It breaths new life into an older router, such as a Linksys WRT54G. Even if your current router is not supported, unlikely, you’ll know which router to buy next, one that can benefit from DD-WRT.


15 posted on 12/06/2009 6:41:29 PM PST by papasmurf
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

Belkin made their name on selling quality products at low prices. That can’t be said any longer. It seems that nearly every one of their products in the 2-4 years is junk and their customer service a shell game.


16 posted on 12/06/2009 6:44:30 PM PST by papasmurf
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To: papasmurf

papasmurf,
thanks for a great tip


17 posted on 12/06/2009 7:36:38 PM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: All
Apple articles posted on Free Republic...

18 posted on 12/08/2009 9:16:44 AM PST by Star Traveler (The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a Zionist and Jerusalem is the apple of His eye.)
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