Why 802.11ac Wi-Fi throughput may still be insufficient

A recent white paper from Xirrus investigates methodologies for building high-performance networks with 802.11ac wireless technology. Along the way, the paper's analysis warns that while 802.11ac provides definite performance improvements for Wi-Fi, implementation alone will not solve the gap between wired and wireless networks.

Related: 802.11ac Wi-Fi: Time for reality check?

What will 802.11ac mean for wireless testing?

"While 802.11ac improves performance, its throughput per use will still be far below wired networks," contends Xirrus. "A large percentage of clients on today’s wireless networks (i.e. tablets and smartphones) have RF limitations that will not allow them to support anywhere close to the maximum data rates promised by 802.11ac. To approach wired-equivalent performance per user, multi-radio architectures must be adopted by the industry."

View/Download the white paper here.

More: 802.11ac Gigabit wireless: The great Wi-Fi hope