iPhone 4 has 802.11n, but not the "awesome" 802.11n
I suspect many people were very happy to see that the iPhone 4 was listed as having 802.11n. I know that I was. I have a dual-band network at home which separates 802.11n from 802.11b/g, and that's made a huge difference in transfer times. But there's also another benefit of 802.11n: it can use the 5GHz frequency band instead of the 2.4Ghz. Without going into too much detail, most (but certainly not all) of the benefit of 802.11n comes if you use 5Ghz, because it isn't cluttered with other devices like 2.4Ghz is.So imagine my dismay when I went to the iPhone 4 technical specifications page and saw "802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)" listed there. I wanted to double check my suspicion that this was bad news for people who want to avoid the interference issues that come with 802.11b/g.
When you have a question about Wi-Fi, especially in the Mac world, the guy to ask is TidBITS & Seattle Times columnist Glenn Fleishman. If you've ever read a great, informed (and informative) article on Wi-Fi that even a mere mortal could understand, chances are pretty good that Glenn wrote it. He wrote the most thorough analysis of the Wi-Fi woes at the iPhone 4 demo that I have seen anywhere.
I asked Glenn about this on Twitter, and he confirmed my fears that 802.11n in 2.4Ghz will suffer from the same interference that b/g devices do. This makes "802.11n" partly just a marketing bullet point for iPhone 4 instead of a truly beneficial feature. If you're currently running a 5GHz-only N network, your iPhone won't take advantage.
For 2.4GHz N networks, you will probably get some speed boost over G (Glenn estimated perhaps 1.5x when using an 802.11n base station). When copying a 940MB file over my home Wi-Fi network between a Mac desktop and laptop, 802.11n took 2 minutes, 14 seconds compared to 15 minutes 45 seconds on 802.11g. Then again, most people won't be doing large wireless file copies to/from their iPhones until/unless wireless synchronization comes along.
So yes, Apple can boast that the iPhone 4 has 802.11n and they're telling the truth, but don't expect much practical difference day-to-day. Glenn suspects that given the newer chip and more efficient use of the radio spectrum, we might get better battery life on N than on G -- but we won't know for sure until the iPhones arrive.
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I suspect many people were very happy to see that the iPhone 4 was listed as having 802.11n. I know that I was. I have a dual-band network...
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This is incorrect. Please see my other replies for an explanation.
June 15 2010 at 4:31 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySo from the comments it sounds like a) it's good that you reported it, and b) the keynote was very slightly misleading, but c) it makes no difference.
Bring on iPhone 4! :D
No, I live in the UK. We use 5Ghz a and n here.
The difference is the slight differences in the frequency ranges that can be used, so the usable channels between countries can be different.
Oh, and another thing. If the iPhone had the awesome 5Ghz 802.11n, then you would not be able to connect it to the vast majority of wireless hotspots in the world.
There really is not such a great benefit of having 5Ghz 802.11n on an iPhone, as you are only likely to be using it for internet, rather than file transfers, as long as you are not suffering from connection problems.
If you are, it would be a good idea to turn your router to use a wifi channel that is not congested by your neighbours.
5 MHz is not permitted in all countries, e.g., England.
June 15 2010 at 12:23 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis is incorrect. Please see my other replies for an explanation.
June 15 2010 at 4:32 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply"I have a dual-band network at home which separates 802.11n from 802.11b/g"
The writer of the article has got this wrong. Dual band does not just mean that it can broadcast wireless b/g and n. It means that it has radios that broadcast on 5Ghz as well as 2.4Ghz.
The 5Ghz could be 802.11a from years ago, or 802.11n.
A router that broadcasts b/g and n on 2.4Ghz, but has no 5Ghz radio is a single band router.
Wait, are there smart phones on the market with 5ghz capabilities? Is this even an option in manufacturing? I wish my iPhone 4 was available in 3-D but the tech isn't yet available. I'm not sure the subject matter was researched prior to being published.
June 14 2010 at 9:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe iPad is the only mobile device I know of that's got 2.4+5 GHz, but it's not a technical limitation any more. It's more of an issue of size, power, heat, etc. The iPad shows it's possible; the iPhone 4 focus was on thinner form factor and longer battery life.
June 14 2010 at 9:58 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyMy question is, why does this particular blogger seem to have something against Apple/iPhone 4? Two back-to-back negative posts that certainly aren't as truly devastating as sensationally portrayed. Yes, 802.11n/2.4GHz will potentially suffer from the same interference as other devices using that band. Ya know what? I'm using a dual band router and my 5GHz band suffers more interference than my 2.4GHz due to all the newer devices I have that have moved to that band (in my particular setup). I also thought the post on multi-tasking was way over hyped and mostly something an iPhone neophyte would have seen as another "gotcha" moment. Really? Apps that haven't integrated with the new Multi-Tasking API can't take advantage of it...where is the surprise?
Where is Erica with her much more pragmatic insight and opinion regarding Apple iPhone hardware and features? Just seems like a couple posts that were created for hits.
I could care less that the posts are negative, if they weren't so sensationalized. TJ makes it seem as if Apple is trying to pull the proverbial wool over peoples eyes in these cases (not that they don't do that in other cases).
5ghz is a scam anyway. Test transfer rates on 2.4ghz and 5ghz. I did on my network, I am rural and so no other devices are on either network and there is no interference. The transfers were from a time capsule to a MacBook pro. The 5ghz band was faster only if i was within 20 feet of the router with no obstructions. If you went past that or put a wall in the way then 2.4ghz kills 5 ghz. Effectively to make 5ghz any good you need to be close enough you could use Ethernet. Tested this multiple times, the newest time capsule version with the newest firmware
June 14 2010 at 9:15 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyYes, if you live in the middle of nowhere, it probably won't matter much. But even running a couple other 2.4GHz devices will forcibly slow an N network down.
5Ghz works much, much, much faster for me.
who actually uses the full bandwith of the wireless networks, if you really need it for file transfers then use the usb, that is what it is designed for... like really are you going to argue and complain over sermantics and features that require an expensive wireless routers, which by the way arent very common in households and in businesses...
its a feature that wouldve jacked up the price of the iphone, a featue that not everyone uses either because they dont have the hardware to support it and wont have a need to support it anytime soon, oh and yes if read real world results, 5ghz does have shorter transmission distance due to the higher frequency and is still prone to intereference not to other wireless networks but devices that transmit at the frequency like cordless phones
i can see TJ Luoma (the guy who wrote the article) must either have big pockets or believes in hype about the 5ghz frequency or just wants a device to support a useless feature, yes it useless for the iphone as it wont provide any real performance increase but hey it must be improtant for TJ Luoma
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