ADSL, draft-n + gigabit... in one box?

RobinH · 23 May 2007 at 14:54

There seem to be plenty of ADSL wireless routers around including a crop of ones supporting the draft 802.11n standard (which will hopefully be firmware upgradeable once the standard is ratified).

However, they all sport just 10/100 ethernet switches which doesn't make sense. Why no gigabit support? If the draft-n speed claims are to be believed then the 10/100 ports are just going to be a bottleneck between the LAN/WLAN connections surely?

I now have a server and two PCs plus a D-Link SAN box that all have gigabit ports, yet there doesn't seem to be a single box on the market that will let me do ADSL, wireless routing and gigabit ethernet all in one box. I'm sure if there were such a device then it would sell like hot cakes?

Dougsnake · 19 Jun 2007 at 14:38

yeps i also notice there seems to be not one gigabit supporting adsl router yet i see the netgear cable router does whats that about.
been reading up about draft-n and i find it unbelieveable that companys can sell something which is not a ratified standard.
was thinking about getting shut of my trusty thompson 510v4 and going wireless now i think ill wait till 802.11n standard is certified i for one will not buy something that could turn out to be a white elephant,as im sure other people think the same..........

Snapshot · 19 Jun 2007 at 15:04

It was just the same with 802.11g and even with some dial-up modem standards before that (V32 IIRC). 802.11n seems to be taking a very long time to be ratified and I believe there are too many vested interests amongst the manufacturers to make it an easy process. I would not buy a draft-n devices as there is no guarantee that it will be firmware upgradable - it might well need a hardware change. Having said that, the test of how close the draft is likely to be to the ratified version is how well kit from different manufacturers interworks. Pre-g kit was very poor at interworking but I don't know about draft-n.

oxygene · 19 Jun 2007 at 15:14

I swear I saw one not long ago. A cool router iwth wireless-n gigabit router and adsl-2 all supported. But not on site any more.

waso_dude · 19 Jun 2007 at 15:36

with 802.11n there are 2standards.

But they havn't agreed on a major one yet.

stoofa · 19 Jun 2007 at 15:49

Final N specification is due to be released in November this year.
However the next standard is well under way - N could well be one of the shortest lived technologies ever.

Slackworth · 19 Jun 2007 at 17:57

stoofa said:
Final N specification is due to be released in November this year.

That sounds more likely to be Draft-N 2.0. Both Linksys & Netgear have said no final specification for N will be approved till late-2008.