Both Netgear and D-Link have announced their first pre-802.11n routers. The 802.11n standard
will eventually replace conventional Wi-Fi, although the products will be
backwards-compatible. The key difference with the
802.11n standard is its
increased speed, roughly 540-Mbits/s, although such speeds are, for the moment,
theoretical, and will vary with distance and the number and spacing of objects
in between the routers.
In addition to the routers
announced by Netgear last week, its new offerings include
the WNR834B RangeMax NEXT wireless router with a 10/100-Mbit Ethernet switch
and a WN511B wireless notebook adapter for $180 and $130, respectively. The
products are currently shipping, according to Netgear.
D-Link announced the
RangeBooster N 650 line on April 5, which includes the DIR-635 router,
DWA-645 notebook adapter, and the DWA-547 desktop adapter, for $159.99, $99.99,
and $119.99, respectively. The company chose the AR5008 chipset from Atheros.
The routers include an SPI firewall in addition to the NAT protection that
generally ships as a standard feature.
