Netgear Unveils 802.11ac USB Adapter

Broadcom, the chip vendor backing the innovation, dubs 802.11ac "5G Wi-Fi," as a way to distinguish it from prior generations. The new 802.11ac generations of routers will be compatible with previous Wi-Fi routers and customers, including 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n devices. Nevertheless, 802.11ac delivers up to 1,300 Mbps speeds on the 5-GHz band, plus operating on the 2.4-GHz band used by 802.11b/g/n customers.

Michael Hurlston, senior vice president at Broadcom, said he expects that 802.11ac research will be integrated into PCs while the third quarter of this year, followed by televisions in the fourth quarter, and in short mobile phones in early 2013, if only because of their development cycles.

Henry positioned 802.11ac as an moreover important innovation in the era of cloud computing, where photos and other content are uploaded to the cloud as before long as the client is in range of a Wi-Fi network. "As in the near future as you walk in the house, iCloud wants to sync with the computer," he said.

The R6300 at 450+1300 Mbps speeds

Netgear as well rates the R6300 at "450+1300 Mbps" speeds, a to put it more exactly confusing nomenclature that simply means that the router can transmit up to 450 Mbps of information on the 2.4-GHz band that's shared with legacy 802.11b/g/n devices, as then as 1,300 Mbps on the 5-GHz band used by the 802.11ac research. The R6200, in the meantime, is rated at "300+867 Mbps" speeds, indicating that performance will be a trifle less than the company's top-of-the-line router.