New WiFi Standard 802.11ac May Not Initially Be Worth It

Network Computing has interviewed execs from both Cisco Systems and Aerohive Networks, both of whom discuss the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard and how it may not initially be worth it for consumers. The release of 802.11ac will come in two waves, with the first not being all that much to write home about. "Out of the gate, the increases in performance over 11n will not be tremendously impressive," says Chris Spain, VP of product marketing at Cisco Systems. "The second wave--which will require a hardware refresh--gets far more interesting." First-generation 802.11ac products will offer up to 1.3 Gbps via three spatial streams and 80-MHz-wide channels -- double the largest 40 MHz channel width currenly seen in 802.11n hardware.

You can read what others have to say about this here...beware, it gets a bit testy.

New WiFi Standard