WiFi: 1 Gbit/s soon to be standardised and quickly adopted

According to research cabinet In-Stat, in 2015 close to a billion devices will be compatible with the WiFi 802.11ac wireless network standard which should soon be made official.

Wi-Fi 802.11ac, an evolution of the WiFi network standard using the 6 GHz frequency and allowing a maximum theoretical speed of 1 Gbit/s thanks to the MIMO technology (Multiple Input Multiple Output), should be made official during the year.

Looking into research group In-Stat’s crystal ball, the high performance promised by this replacement of the current WiFi 802.11n standard should see quick adoption by users.

While the first compatible devices are anticipated for late 2012, the group’s president Franck Dickson has already put forward that a billion compatible devices should be online by 2015.

Among these, 80% will be mobile telephones, although there will also be connected automobiles, electronic readers, portable computers and tactile tablets.

We will have to wait until 2015 to see if this becomes reality. While we are already getting excited about such speeds, we shouldn’t forget that the WiFi 802.11ac standard has still not been made official, while the WiFi 802.11n standard also took a while to catch on with the public.