whats wireless ac and do i need a speacial wireless router

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WINTERLORD

WINTERLORD

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or will a recent wireless N router or dualband router do wireless AC? is wireless AC the one you plug into a wall? what is it and whats the benefit over wireless N
 
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There's a good explanation of the different standards here. It's a little out of date (the second generation ac routers are now hitting the market, with even higher speeds) but gives a good general overview.

The key differences between wireless n and wireless ac are:

  • - broader band (which is better for e.g. HD streaming)
    - speed
    - range (helped by beamforming, whereby the router focuses the signal on the receiver, instead of just broadcasting over a wider area)

There is also a difference between ac routers. Ones like the Asus RT-AC68u are second generation and support faster speeds than first generation ones. You need to do your research if this is the way you want to go!

In a nutshell, wireless ac is superior...
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shure

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Google's your friend here. It's the latest, fastest standard but you need both an ac compatible router and clients that are ac enabled, of which there aren't that many at the moment. It's still quite early days for it. Most people won't notice the difference over n in everyday use unless you use bandwidth intensive tasks such as HD media streaming.
 
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plivin89

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only certain computers and wireless nic cards support it. It basically combines the 2.4 GHZ and 5 GHZ frequencies to give you 1,300 mbps speeds. And no, you need to by a router that supports wireless AC and a computer or usb ac nic card that also supports it. the maximum speed for wireless n is 450 mbps and ac is 1,300 mbps+
 
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hang-the-9

hang-the-9

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No, wireless AC is not run over powerlines, that is not very wireless. The AC in the name has nothing to do with AC as in Alternating Current it's just the standard name like G and N.

Unless you are using the wireless for data transfer between computers N standard is fine.
 
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bill001g

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This is not completely correct. 802.11ac only runs on 5g. It does not use the 2.4g for anything. Unfortunately the marketing guys have gotten involved and have done their very best to get the biggest numbers they can.

The 1300 number has 2 meanings on routers. The ones that are being honest will say the router an run at 450m on 2.4g ie 150 with 3 streams. and 1300m on 5g ie 433m with 3 streams. The ones that are trying to fool you add the numbers so the will add 450 to 866 and just call it 1300. 866 is only 2 streams. The marketing are bad at math as well as router tech. This has been the common trick for 802.11n where they added say 300m on 2.4 to 300m on 5g and call it 600m. This is also why you see some manufactures claim 802.11ac at 1750. they add 450 to 1300.

Adding these values is very deceptive since it implies a single machine can use the total which it not true.



 
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shure

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May 18, 2014
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There's a good explanation of the different standards here. It's a little out of date (the second generation ac routers are now hitting the market, with even higher speeds) but gives a good general overview.

The key differences between wireless n and wireless ac are:

  • - broader band (which is better for e.g. HD streaming)
    - speed
    - range (helped by beamforming, whereby the router focuses the signal on the receiver, instead of just broadcasting over a wider area)

There is also a difference between ac routers. Ones like the Asus RT-AC68u are second generation and support faster speeds than first generation ones. You need to do your research if this is the way you want to go!

In a nutshell, wireless ac is superior to wireless n and should be a consideration if you do a lot of HD streaming or are looking for ultimate speed. But be aware, unless you have a very fast internet connection or do a lot of internal file transfers between computers in your network, you won't see an awful lot of difference in day to day use. And of course if your PCs are wired you will see no benefit whatsoever! You also have to ensure that your existing equipment supports the 802.11ac standard. As it's very new only the latest stuff will, and even then not everything. You can of course get ac adapters for computers but it all adds to the cost. If you want to future proof as much as possible than wireless ac should be on your list, particularly 2nd generation. But as with everything new it will be comparatively more expensive and you need to judge whether your usage requirements require it. There's no point buying a Ferrari if you only ever pop down to the local shop a mile away. It's just extra performance you won't ever use.
 
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