Linksys goes dual-band on Wi-Fi

IDG News Service - With its eyes on the future of home entertainment and a relatively uncluttered band of radio spectrum, Cisco Systems Inc.'s Linksys division on Wednesday unveiled a line of IEEE 802.11g/a wireless LAN products.

The devices, including a router and clients for both notebooks and desktops, can provide Wi-Fi connectivity over either of two unlicensed radio bands. The 2.4-GHz band, used by 802.11g, is also home to some cordless phones, microwaves and other devices that can cause interference. The 802.11a technology uses spectrum in the 5.0-GHz band, where there is less competition from other devices and services.

Linksys, which Cisco acquired last year, launched the devices Wednesday at an event in San Francisco to promote its aggressive move into what it sees as a burgeoning market for home networking. Also at the Wednesday event, Linksys introduced a new video camera with a faster WLAN connection and unveiled a deal with Verizon Communications Inc. in which the carrier will provide Cisco voice-over-IP adapters to customers of its broadband telephony service.

Linksys sees 802.11a as the emerging home Wi-Fi technology as consumers begin using more demanding entertainment applications, such as streaming music and movies, Linksys President Charlie Giancarlo said at the event. It has been used almost exclusively in enterprises, in part because of the relatively high cost of dual radios for networks that support both 802.11a and other Wi-Fi specifications.

Now, some consumer electronics vendors, such as Sony Corp., are aiming at 802.11a for their coming wireless entertainment devices. Both its speed and its relatively "clean" spectrum band make it ideal for entertainment uses, Giancarlo said. Like 802.11g, 802.11a offers a theoretical maximum carrying capacity of 54Mbit/sec., compared with 11Mbit/sec. for the earlier, widely deployed 802.11b technology.


Linksys's 802.11a/g products will ship next month with estimated list prices starting at $89 for a PC card or PCI adapter. A USB adapter will cost $99, and a router will sell for $109. The PC card and PCI adapter include Wireless Protected Access security capability. All the devices will work with older 802.11b equipment as well.

Under the deal with Verizon, the carrier will provide a Linksys PAP2 (Phone Adapter with 2 Phone Ports) free to VoiceWing customers. The PAP2 is an analog telephony adapter (ATA) with one Ethernet port for connection to a broadband router and a pair of phone ports for simultaneously using two phones for VoIP (or a phone and a fax). Since Verizon introduced VoiceWing in July, it has been providing customers the older Cisco ATA 186, according to Michelle