Inside CNET Labs Podcast

Since my CES blog on Netgear's WNDR3700, I have received a numerous e-mails asking about the availability of the product. Today, I can provide readers with a definitive answer.

Netgear announced Tuesday the immediate availability of what it calls "the ultimate networking machine for gamers, media enthusiasts, and small businesses," the RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit router WNDR3700.

The WNDR3700 wireless router

(Credit: Netgear)

This is Netgear's highest-end draft-N router that offers true dual-band (concurrent signals in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands), as well as other features such as ReadyShare for high-speed access to a USB hard drive from any device on the network, broadband usage metering, Digital Living Network Alliance support and video quality of service.

According to Netgear, the router is equipped with a 680MHz processor to offer up to 500Mbps WAN to LAN speeds and up to 350Mbps real-world wireless throughput. It's also on of the first consumer wireless routers that compatible with DLNA-certified products. This supposedly makes it better at streaming digital media than other non-DLNA compatible routers.

The broadband usage metering is actually the first to be seen in a consumer-grade wireless router. This is a feature that lets users monitor the download traffic used; it is especially useful for broadband users with bandwidth quotas, such as Comcast members.

The RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router is now available worldwide. The router comes with a one-year warranty, 24/7 technical support, and has an estimated price of $190. You can get it now or wait for my review of the product, which will be available later this month.

The ZoneFlex 7762 outdoor Wireless-N access point

(Credit: Ruckus Wireless)

Wireless-N has gone outdoor for a while now with Meraki and Tropos having taken turns to release their their products.

However, Ruckus Wireless on Monday announced new outdoor wireless products it claims to be "world's first and only outdoor dual-band 802.11n with dynamic beam forming." The new product, the ZoneFlex 7762 access point, is supposedly designed to solve problems that have hindered outdoor Wi-Fi deployments, including interference, physical obstructions, as well as network management complexity and cost.

Ruckus outdoor access points

The ZoneFlex 7762 is the company's first centrally managed, concurrent dual-band 802.11n (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz) outdoor access point. It's capable of sustaining performance of up to 150 Mbps over 1,000 feet between meshed nodes and up to 50 Mbps to client devices over 500 feet. It can also work in a group of multiple units that covers a large area, such as an apartment building complex.

The focus point of this new product is its dynamic beam-forming antennae that automatically direct transmissions to the best performing signal path, using real-time feedback mechanisms of 802.11 protocol. This allows the access point to constantly and intelligently adapt to changes in the environment that, as Ruckus claims, results in a three to four times improvement in terms of both range and throughput performance over other similar products. Ruckus also says that the ZoneFlex 7762 offers reliability comparable to wired connections.

The ZoneFlex 7762 supports both 802.3af and 802.3at power over Ethernet standards. The device even provides additional power over an Ethernet output port that can be used to connect and power devices such as an IP camera without additional cabling.

Designed for outdoor environment, the access point can withstand water submersion, is protected against dust, and can operate in temperatures ranging from -40°F to 149°F. It also has an integrated heater for use in cold climates.

In addition to the ZoneFlex 7762, the company also announced the ZoneFlex 2741, an 802.11g-based access point that has similar characteristics as the ZoneFlex 7762.

Both of these access points are available in August. The ZoneFlex 7762 is priced at $1,999, while the ZoneFlex 2741 costs $899.

Known for offering one of the biggest wireless mesh networks for regular hot spot users and being the first that brought Wireless-N to the outdoors, Meraki on Monday showed that it can also mean serious business with its new enterprise class wireless local area network (WLAN) solutions.

WLAN is nothing new. Buy a wireless router to set up at home and you have one. However, it's a lot more complicated and expensive when it comes to the enterprise-class WLAN, where both large coverage and high performance are needed.

What Meraki introduced offers just that, plus lower price points. For less than $3,000, you can get a Meraki Enterprise Wireless LAN system that covers an office of approximately 20,000 square feet. The price, of course, increases with the area of coverage. For example, for an area of 500,000 square feet, the price would be up to $75,000. This makes the new solutions work for any business between 50 to 5,000 people.

Meraki's Enterprise Wireless LAN consists of two new Wireless-N access points, including the single radio MR11 and the dual-radio MR14. Both are high-end, high-speed wireless access points with the MR11 having the cap speed of 300 Mbps and the MR14 boasting 600 Mbps. These speeds are significant as most businesses still use the regular 100Mbps wired network.

Other than that, the new WLAN solution is also easy to use, thanks to Meraki's Enterprise Cloud Controller. According to Meraki, setting up an enterprise wireless network can be as simple as plugging in the access points and watching them self-configure over the Internet. Meraki's new solution also offers IT personnel the capability to manage multiple geographically distributed networks from a central location.

Meraki's new enterprise-class products will be available for purchase by June but the company will start taking the preorders as early as May 12.

The Selectable Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router WRT320N.

(Credit: Cisco)

It seems the transition to dual-band wireless networking is in full force at Cisco. The company announced Thursday three brand-new Wireless-N products that operate in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies.

Sharing the same marketing brand "Linksys by Cisco," these new media-enabled home products include a bridge, the WET610N, and two routers, the WRT400N and the WRT320N.

The WET610N Wireless-N Ethernet Bridge is designed to add high-speed Wireless-N connectivity to devices that have an Ethernet port. Examples of these devices include desktop computers, set-top boxes, game consoles, network printers, and certain models of TVs.

The new Bridge operates in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies and features built-in quality-of-service functionality that's optimized for streaming video, home theater, and gaming applications. It's available now and costs $99.99.

The WRT400N and WRT320N routers supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. However, while the WRT400N offers connectivity in both the 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands at the same time, the WRT320N can only operate in one band, either 2.4GHz or 5GHz.

The WRT320N makes up for this by offering Gigabit Ethernet and a better price. It costs only $129.99, while the non-Gigabit WRT400N costs $150. They are both available for purchase now.

Apart from these routers, Cisco also released awhile ago the WRT610N, which offers simultaneous dual-band and Gigabit Ethernet.

Though Wireless-N (an 802.11n draft standard that offers throughput speeds up to 300Mbps or faster) has been used in home and small-office routers for a long time, routers for outdoor hot spots are still mostly based on the 802.11g standard that caps at 54Mbps. This is primarily because the 802.11n hasn't been ratified yet.

The MR58 outdoor Wireless-N router is made for rugged environs.

(Credit: Meraki)

Nonetheless, Wireless-N standard's proven superiority over 802.11g both in throughput and range means hot-spot equipment makers and providers can't ignore it any longer.

Meraki, arguably the biggest provider of outdoor Wi-Fi mesh services, on Tuesday announced its very first 802.11n device, the MR58 outdoor wireless router.

Like most previous routers from Meraki and unlike all home Wireless-N routers, the new MR58 is a weatherproof wireless device that can be mounted outside to provide wireless signals to a large open space. According to Meraki, the MR58 can withstand temperatures ranging from from -4 degrees F to 122 degrees F and provide five times the speed of standard 802.11b/g wireless devices.

Being a router for a mesh network, it can deliver high bandwidth across multiple hops, support long-distance links, and is much better for high-bandwidth content such as voice and video.

The MR58 is designed specifically to provide wireless access for large outdoor networks located on campuses, apartment complexes, hotels and resorts, and other large public spaces. It can also be used in indoor indoor areas with high-bandwidth needs such as classrooms, convention centers, stadiums, student housing complexes, and manufacturing facilities.

The new router is house in rugged casing and includes the networking features of Meraki's cloud-based hosted services, such as centralized configuration, monitoring, and security.

The Meraki MR58 is sold in packages starting at $1,499. You can upgrade it with different high-gain antennae or to get multiple units working together to create a coverage area of up 12 miles in range.

It's been about a year since the debut of dual-band routers, those that support both the ever-popularly used 2.4Ghz and the newer, less busy 5Ghz frequencies. This was very exciting news at first, but after having worked with a few of them, I wonder if they are really worth it.

Just like AT&T cell service, a wireless LAN can be unreliable at times.

(Credit: Dell)

If you turn on a wireless network scan in a neighborhood of a big city (like where we are right now in downtown San Francisco), chances are you'll find multiple existing wireless networks.

Wireless routers are so popular now. Up till about a year ago, they all operated in the 2.4ghz frequency, which is shared by many other home appliances, such cordless phones or Bluetooth devices. This, in crowded areas, could potentially create interference that adversely affects your wireless network's performance.

This is the main reason why wireless networking vendors have turned to the cleaner 5Ghz frequency, thus the birth of dual-band routers, such as the Linksys WRT 610N or the D-Link DIR 855.

For you to take advantage of the 5Ghz frequency, the receivers (client machines/adapters) also needs to support this frequency. Most of the existing wireless adapters, however, are made to support only the 2.4Ghz. For this reason, the new routers that support the 5Ghz frequency are generally those that can also support the 2.4Ghz, in most case, simultaneously.

And that is all good. What is not, however, is the problem I have found in all of the dual-band routers I've worked with: the range of the 5Ghz frequency is shorter than that of the 2.4Ghz frequency. Often, the 5Ghz throughput performance is not much faster that of the 2.4Ghz, either.

Also, though the dual-band routers have been out there for a year, there are still very few adapters/clients that support the 5Ghz frequency. And those that do tend to also support the 2.4Ghz frequency. This means, it doesn't matter how much you want it; so far the 5Ghz frequency has been more of an option than a transition.

I find this very much like the ongoing change from the 32-bit Windows operating system to the 64-bit one. As the 64-bit Windows supports 32-bit software applications and there aren't many 64-bit-only software applications, there aren't that many compelling reasons to switch. After a while, your excitement wanes and you wonder why you should even worry about the 64-bit OS at all.

One more thing: Wireless-N routers' radio spectrum consists of 11 channels. This means if they are all set up to use one channel each, there needs to be 12 or more routers/access points in an area to create a considerable amount of interference. Most Wireless-N routers offer the option of scanning and picking the unused channel by themselves.

When it comes to wireless routers, the two most important factors are range and throughput performance. Personally, I find that 2.4Ghz Wireless-N routers are still the best for this. Case in point: our only Editors' Choice award for wireless routers this year is the Belkin N+, a router that doesn't offer any 5Ghz support at all.

Last but not least, 5Ghz or 2.4Ghz, wireless networking to me has always been a mystery. With the same router, it works differently from one location to another, from one Internet service to another, and so on. There are so many unknown factors that could affect your wireless signal.

The only way to ensure the consistency of a LAN is relying on something you can put your finger on. This is where the network cable or a pair of powerline adapters come into play.