Mu-Mimo and 802.11g. Will I get multiple parallel streams?

[igorfi]

Hi Folks! Just joined the community!

I've got a question related to Mu-Mimo Wave 2 and 802.11g. As we know "Mu" supports multiple streams in parallel. Does it mean that if I have one device which is 802.11n and another 802.11g, then they can receive and send in parallel? Or user devices must be 802.11n and higher? Thank you very much.

 

[BFG-9000]

Neither 802.11n nor 802.11g, or even 802.11ac Wave 1 devices are compatible with Mu-Mimo.

Furthermore, 802.11g is single-antenna only, plus its very presence requires a longer guard interval which slows all other devices on 2.4GHz (it doesn't understand the 802.11n short interval so all the other radios must use the long one, so the g radio knows when to not transmit). If there is a lot of g traffic that alone will consume substantial airtime simply because it takes longer to transmit over g, which leaves less available for faster 2.4GHz devices.

If you use 5GHz for the n and ac devices, then the 2.4GHz channel can operate simultaneously for g devices.

 

[igorfi]

That's a great answer BFG-9000. Thank you. I was thinking that with Mu-MIMO router my devices will be using say 802.11n and Sonos Wireless speakers 802.11g (this the protocol they use) antennas simultaneously. I as for 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz - i got your point. Thank you.