Finally after being two years late, the IEEE ratifies the 802.11n wireless specification. Despite only being ratified now, more than 700 products have already been certified as being 802.11n compatible.

So what exactly is 802.11n?

Put in simple terms for the non-techie, 802.11 is simply the proper name for a standard that says how wireless is meant to work. The ‘N’ refers to the version of the standard and you may already have come across 802.11a, 802.11b or 802.11g.

802.11n was conceived seven years ago to drive wireless technology faster over longer distances, increasing speeds by a factor of six and doubling the range. The main principle is straight forward, rather than sending one wireless transmission you send a number of transmissions and join them up.

Even with the extra speed and range of 802.11n, the technology can still be affected and the performance reduced. Walls, doors, floors and obstacles will still get in the way and reduce the effectiveness of your coverage.

According to an article at The Register, of the 700 bits of equipment certified for 802.11n, only 15 of per cent were aimed at the business marketplace. The majority are laptop computers (45 per cent) followed by home-networking products (30 per cent).

Wireless ‘N’ has over the last couple of years had had a lot of talk, all of the big names in home networking have been pushing their next generation ‘N’ equipment. You may have already seen labels for “pre-N”, or “802.11n draft” on new equipment.

To decide whether Wireless ‘N’ is the thing for you, look at how you use wireless. 802.11g wireless has useable throughout of 20meg, if you just look at web pages this is plenty. If your requirements are more specialised then 802.11n with 100meg throughput could be a consideration.

In summary 802.11n is just a technical name for wireless. Is it worth rushing out there and buying 802.11n equipment? Unless you are watching high quality video or doing something specialist, it is probably not worth it.

If you are having problems with your wireless network or want to install a new wireless network that doesn’t give you any problems, it might be worth calling the experts. Try 0845 004 3025 as a starting point.