802.11ac is main stream as well as 802.11n.
Because 802.11n has better distance and more power to pass-through wall. But 802.11ac is much fast than 802.11n.
802.11ac Technology Overview:
11n Specification:
- 2.4 and 5Ghz Supported
- Wider channels 40MHz
- Better modulation 64QAM
- Additional streams up to 4 streams
- Beam forming
- Backwards compatibility, with 11a/b/g
11ac introduces:
- 5GHz supported
- Even wider channels 80Mhz and 160 Mhz
- Better modulation 256 QAM
- Additional streams up to 8
- Beam forming
- Backwards compatibility with 11a/b/g/n
Wider Channels:
80MHz channels is 4.5x faster than 20MHz
Now 802.11ac v2 is comming. Also called wave 2. It is expected to be available in 2015.
Here is some highlights of wave 2 802.11ac.
MU-MIMO
- Use AP MIMO resources more effectively
- Transmit data to multiple devices simultaneously.
4×4:4SS
- Benefit of additional stream mostly for MU-MIMO
- Not anticipating any 4×4:4SS client devices
- Adds 33% to max datarate
VHT160
- Double s max datarate
- Practical problem: only 2 VHT160 channels in entire 5GHz band
