Amped Wireless Intros First Long Range 802.11ac Devices
Early next year Amped Wireless will release a family of long-range 802.11ac products.
Amped Wireless said that it's introducing the industry's first long range 802.11ac wireless products: the RTA15 High Power Dual Band AC 700mW Wi-Fi Router, the REA20 High Power Dual Band AC 700mW Wi-Fi Range Extender, and the ACA1 High Power Dual Band AC Wi-Fi USB Adapter. These products will help create a wireless network reaching up to 1 gigabit per second.
For starters, the router will feature three high gain, dual band antennas and ten total power amplifiers (four 5.0 GHz 700mW, 2-Stage amplifiers, two 2.4 GHz amplifiers and four advanced low noise amplifiers). Also thrown into the mix will be a USB port for sharing an external drive or USB stick, and five Gigabit wired ports for connecting Ethernet-based devices. Additional features will include guest networks, adjustable Wi-Fi coverage controls, parental security and support for the latest Wi-Fi security.
To expand the router's wireless coverage, the separate range extender will also feature three high gain antennas and the same ten power amplifiers used in the router. It will also include a USB port and five Gigabit wired ports to add an additional five Ethernet-based devices to the network. Also included will be enhanced management and a "rich" offering of security and advanced features.
To access the full potential of 802.11ac wireless gigabit connectivity, customers will need the dual-band USB adapter. It will consist of two high gain, dual band antennas and four total amplifiers to maximize performance. It will connect using USB 3.0 to take full advantage of 802.11ac's gigabit data transfer speeds, but it will also be fully backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and 802.11a/b/g/n networks.
"Amped Wireless products feature advanced Wi-Fi amplifiers to boost wireless performance," the company said on Monday. "Standard Wi-Fi devices have a wireless output power of 50mW, while Amped Wireless products boasts 2.4GHz and/or 5.0GHz amplifiers with up to 1000mW of output power. The boosted performance is optimally tuned with high gain dual band antennas for maximum range and performance."
The RTA15, REA20 and ACA1 will be available early 2013, the company said. Expect to hear more about these products next month during CES 2013 in Las Vegas.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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srhelicity This article talks about long range 802.11ac devices, but I don't see any estimates of what "long range" means. Did I miss something? How long is long range? 1500 feet? 2 miles?Reply -
wildkitten srhelicityThis article talks about long range 802.11ac devices, but I don't see any estimates of what "long range" means. Did I miss something? How long is long range? 1500 feet? 2 miles?I was curious too so I clicked on the link to the source and it says 10,000 square feet. Well, 10,000 square feet is 100ftx100ft, so I would assume that it reaches a radius of 50 feet which isn't exactly too long of a range. But it does look like a good product otherwise.Reply -
halcyon I've decided that I'm willing to test this on a long term basis...this one time. You can go ahead and send it to me if you insist.Reply -
razor512 50mw was common in like 2001-2003 but today, 300-500mw and some of the higher end $150 range routers will use upwrds of 600mw transmit power.Reply
A jump to 700mw will not give much of a range boost.
Their main boost comes from using external antennas and not the crappy PCB antennas that are kept internal to save cost.
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signothorn I have one of their wireless usb adapters, takes up 2 usb ports but can pick up networks within about 1/4 of a mile, great stuff.Reply -
icepick314 I don't know why these new ac routers and adapters still use USB 2...Reply
it's serious bottleneck when new ac protocol can go so much faster than usual USB 2...
use USB 3 on the new ac equipments, dammit!! -
tmk221 wildkittenI was curious too so I clicked on the link to the source and it says 10,000 square feet. Well, 10,000 square feet is 100ftx100ft, so I would assume that it reaches a radius of 50 feet which isn't exactly too long of a range. But it does look like a good product otherwise.Reply
a radius of 50ft?? and it's called long range? After reading all that fancy specs I was expecting 10x this range to be honest..