The Wi-fi Alliance has done a better / less confusing job than their USB equivalent organisation in giving the various implementations simple names. That said, I treasure my new CAT 6 LAN cables.

@Uniblab8

Жыл бұрын

I have some CAT 7 cable but have never hooked it up. Does it really make that much of a difference? I have 5 PCs on my network all connected via CAT 5 cables (old fashioned? LOL).

@John.0z

Жыл бұрын

@@Uniblab8 What are you connecting? If the slowest NIC is say 1Gbps, then there will be no difference using cables designed to work at higher phase switching frequencies. On the other hand, if you use say CAT 4 cables with a pair of 5Gbps NICs or a NIC and switch, then the cable will usually be the speed limiting element. You might find it interesting to get a dump of the line errors. If you are getting no errors, then you have no problems.

@caturdaynite7217

Жыл бұрын

@@Uniblab8 CAT5 is fine for what you are using it for. I usually use CAT6 for heavy traffic uses, like in an office with dozens of users. For that use I run CAT6 riser (CMR) cable. Well actually, I have an electrician do it, my back isn't up to ladder work these days.

@Uniblab8

Жыл бұрын

@@John.0z Thanks

@Uniblab8

Жыл бұрын

@@caturdaynite7217 Great. Thanks. Much appreciated

I'm blown away by this explanation Chris, in all my years online I never knew the origins, the differences (only superficially aware of the differences) between the standards and why they suddenly changed naming conventions. Thank you for this... you sir are a great teacher.

@sbrazenor2

Жыл бұрын

Now if only we could get FreeBSD to support all of the current hardware for Wi-Fi... 🤣 As a matter of fact, I was using a new USB3 dongle for Wi-Fi 6E on Linux and I had to swap the kernel because it was added in version 6.3.4 about three or so weeks ago, but the version I had in PopOS was 6.2.16 and it didn't even acknowledge the device as anything useful. Drivers can be a pain on any OS. I still keep meaning to get more serious about using BSD based systems, but I just never stick to them. The same went for Linux, so eventually I'll get there. (I started using Linux in the 1990's, but didn't 'daily drive' a version of Linux until 2017 or so.)

@RoboNuggie

Жыл бұрын

@@sbrazenor2 I was shocked that 802.11ac came out so long ago, and FreeBSD is no where ready yet to get that as standard....I wish they would hurry up (work is being done, but it's a slow pace). Bluetooth and Wifi - the bane of FreeBSD..... 😞

@John.0z

Жыл бұрын

@@RoboNuggie I will dare to suggest that the actual supporting chips for 802.11ac were available some time after the specification was announced. Then the Linux diver authors get left out in the cold by some manufacturers, which adds to the delay. BSD is in much the same situation, but has more rigorous driver testing. That is usually the way, although the specs are written in consultation or collaboration with many of the chip makers, so there are exceptions.

@sbrazenor2

Жыл бұрын

@@RoboNuggie I wonder if there's a way to find the drivers from Linux and somehow make them work for BSD. 🤔 In a quick search I did find that there's the utility ndisgen, which should be able to convert a Windows driver to a FreeBSD driver. It might be interesting to try and see what happens. It could be that you've had a solution all along, but because it's not well known (seems documented pretty well) - it's just been under the radar.

@ChrisB_Crisps

5 ай бұрын

@RoboNuggie that it maybe because one never had the *intellectual curiosity* to get those years online mentioned and learn about it or maybe because there was no time for that in those years online

"Miracast" is still one of the coolest WiFi iterations ever. Thank you Christopher!

I am an IT Consultant, a former software developer and I have to admit that I did not know even half of this. Thanks for educating me 🤗

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching. :)

I love how you made the explanation of WiFi standards and security, "Crystal Clear"! I was absorbed during the entire video. Extremely well thought out and presented. Thank you Chris. 😊

Some notes, the channel numbers we have on 2.4 GHz originated with the original 802.11 from 1997. 802.11g is exactly the same protocol as 802.11a, but with the addition of 802.11b protection. It is this b protection that really kills performance, when b signals are present. WiFi Direct used to be called Ad Hoc, where two or more devices could connect directly.

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing this. :)

This is the best video I've seen in describing the WiFi standards! Thanks for posting! As a network engineer, I love seeing stuff like this getting posted so I can direct people to it that are eager to learn!

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Thanks. :)

That 'train' analogy was really excellent! It really helped explain to me the differences between PHY and throughput 🙂

@loginregional

Жыл бұрын

Also consider the ONE LUMP problem and loading/unloading time. The music goes round and round... and it stutters when it comes out.

I enjoy these. Puts a lot of figures and stats into greatly needed context.

I remember 802.11a and b being around at the same time, and I never understood (until this video) why 802.11a wasn't more popular despite being so much faster.

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

I also remember it being very confusing a the time: why did we all go straight to b? :)

@gustavrsh

Жыл бұрын

5 GHz range isn't good, especially if you have brick walls. I still use 2.4 even if 5 GHz is 4x faster for this reason.

@CommodoreFan64

Жыл бұрын

@@gustavrsh Plus some relatively new stuff still does not support the 5GHz bandwidth which is why on my TP-Link mesh setup I had to keep my guest network at 2.4GHz to be able to connect the smart light socket on my carport, and the smart smoke alarm in my house that will alert me if I'm away from home, as they refuse to connect to the mixed 2.4/5GHz main mesh network.

@richardsorge-

Жыл бұрын

@@CommodoreFan64 good to know You have a smart smoke alarm.... he he

@Hugh_I

Жыл бұрын

I think it came down to two factors. The range of 802.11a on the 5Ghz band was noticeably smaller, especially with walls in between. And if I remember correctly, regulation of the 5GHz band was much more all over the place from country to country than the 2.4 Ghz band, making it much easier to just sell 2.4Ghz products world wide. It is still today much harder to get a 5 Ghz access point up and running when you try to DIY it with some random Wifi adapter rather than buying a ready made AP, because your wifi adapter may come with the wrong regulatory domain set (often just the international one with the lowest common denominator of what is allowed on what freq/channel), and just refuses to do AP things on the 5Ghz band.

Great overview of 802.11/WiFi. Like mass storage the improvement in performance of both has been amazing over the last couple of decades. As someone who's engineering career spanned both the evolution of Ethernet and WiFi I am in awe

One of the earliest examples of 'Wifi Direct' that I can remember is the Playstation Portable which released in 2005. It allowed you to directly connect to another PSP with Wifi to share games and play multiplayer. I thought it was amazing

I swear Chris is the only one who can make me understand confusing technology standards like USB, SD cards, Wi-Fi, PCIe etc. Not only his didatics is fantastic, but so is the material that he uses to explain the topics, like tables, graphs and lists.

I literally had no idea about how wifi worked, that is, until I found this video! Keep up the great work Chris, your channel is amazing, and it truly deserves a lot of attention. I'm excited to see what will be coming out next Monday. (I said Monday because your videos come out very late in Australia, usually between 11PM and 2AM.)

@Uniblab8

Жыл бұрын

Chris is the best.

@technoWZ5598

Жыл бұрын

@@flightforensics4523 Mate, there's no need to be like that. PLEASE keep your comments respectful. You know what they say: if you don't have anything nice to say, then keep your mouth shut 🤐

@technoWZ5598

Жыл бұрын

@@Uniblab8 He sure is!

Thank you for your very comprehensive explanation for the wonders of Wi-Fi. It reminds me of that well known darts program back in the day where they said 'Lets look at what you could have won!' I for one will stick with Cat cabling where possible. At lease I know what to expect and what is achievable. Thanks again. ATB.

It's always a pleasure to see an Explaining Computers video in the feed every Sunday.

What is interesting in terms of throughput in wifi is whether there will be any full-duplex communication. As of yet, all of the 802.11 protocols have been based on half-duplex, which only allows one-way communication. Ethernet has for a long time been able to use full-duplex, making simultaneous transmission and reception between devices possible. Wireless communication is much more complicated as it introduces interference and signal attenuation, making it necessary to have good multiple access protocols and error detection at the link layer. I hope to see more breakthroughs as this technology has not yet reached its full potential.

Once again, Chris, an excellent video Explaining a subject that literally goes over our heads. We take it for granted these days, but when I was growing up in the 70s there wasn't even such a thing as a personal computer. Well, not in my house anyway. Always look forward to the Sunday videos. Thanks for putting in the effort. Have a great week.

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Greetings Brian. :)

Your video couldn't have come at a better time. I was actually just doing my own research on how modems, and routers actually work. And wifi standards were going to be the next topic I look into. Funny timing - Thanks for your hard work. Always appreciate the information you present

Thanks, Chris for the information on the evolution of WiFi and the standards in which they are used. I look forward to the next video next Sunday, so have a good week. Thanks for all your hard work and research involved in producing these videos.

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Greetings Richard.

@richardpalmanteer9798

Жыл бұрын

@@ExplainingComputers greetings to you as well. 😀

WiFi was the first technology to bring the Internet to you. Previously the Internet only existed at one cable connected computer in your home or in your office. With a WiFi Laptop and early phones you had Internet access in your whole home, at cafes, train stations, airports, etc... Sometimes it is still the only Internet option if you go to a foreign country and your simcard doesn't work.

@Hugh_I

Жыл бұрын

I know what you mean, but strictly speaking in the late 90s or so my family did have internet connection to multiple computers without Wifi. With a DIY linux NAT router on the modem and good old Ethernet (of course all PCs connected together with a single bus over a coaxial cable, so everything went down when one connection failed). I even had a laptop with a PCMCIA ethernet card to plug into that. On the other hand my phone didn't have anything internet. In fact when there was internet, there was no phone - as the single phone line was blocked by the dialup modem. Of course the phone couldn't have done anything with it anyways, it had neither a display nor any kind of processor that could even remotely think about running something like a browser, or even just telnet.

That was an EXCELLENT presentation shedding some light on the confusing cryptic terms used. Thanks a million for this!

Such a short and well put together video on Wi-Fi. Thanks!

An excellent breakdown that will demystify some aspects for many who are not interested in intricacies.

Thank you Professor! Simple, precise, concise and condensed knowledge in one go!

Thanks for another excellent explanation 👍 The view back reminded me where I equipped my first IBM ThinkPad (T 20)with an PCMCIA wifi card to make use of mobile Web experience. There where also WiFi Cards available to put in the CF Memory Card Slot of some devices like my Sony Zaurus organizer..

Thanks Chris. I was around for all of this. It was so nice to hear this explained in such a clear and straight forward way. A video I can share.

Mighty fine explanation Chris. Wi-fi is so ubiquitous that we forget how it has transformed our connectivity. And now I know what Wi-fi 6 et al means. 🙂

Thank you Chris. There is a lot of incorrect information out there about Wi-Fi. This video is very informative and hopefully KZread algorithm will understand :)

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Thanks -- and I hope so too! :)

Another excellent video bringing clarity to a complex subject. Many thanks!

YAFIV (Yet Another Fabulous and Informative Video) :). I've been in the WiFi game since it game out (with those ugly antennae you'd have to connect to the back of the laptop screen) but the content in this video has really filled in the blanks as to "what came when and how did it all evolve". Keep this content coming...even though most of us who subscribe are familiar with the topics of your videos, your content makes knowledge more thorough and therefore, more valuable. Keep up the great content!!

Your choice of presenting colorful items on a white background is awesome.

A great explanation of wifi standards & generations, thank you! It's always a source of frustration for me how little throughput my home network seems to achieve, though I have hardware capable of much higher performance. Determining for certain the bottlenecks, ie., A) my service provider, B) my broadband router, C) my wireless router, D) my client devices, or E) all of the above......I really need to sharpen my skills in this area :)

This is my dude right here. I love you

Greetings Chris. This is great explanatory video about Wi-Fi. This is a gem.

Thanks, 2008 -It took me over 100 hours to understand the IEEE 802.11n

Engineers created a standard called 802.11 which took over the world, and 20 years later one of them said “Boys, I heard from someone lately that the name of our standard isn’t very catchy. Can you believe it?”

I spent the entire of yesterday troubleshooting a slow Wi-Fi network… a reboot of the router improved things x4 XD hours was wasted… this video is brilliant, keep up the good work!

The usual excellent clarity brought to a complex technology.

You can probably imagine how users feel about the transition to fiber. I’ve taken broadcast network systems from Enet to Fiber and the change is so profound as to seem like a new age. Enet cables the size of a tree trunk become a bundle the thickness of your finger. Of course, the change requires new hardware at both ends to take advantage, but is worth the investment for large, growing systems. What was once a terminal room full of racks can become a single small rack with energy savings on the same order. The discarded insulation, connectors, and copper can fill a small truck.

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Yes, an amazing transition. :)

This is the video I've long been waiting for, Another great addition to the knowledge video library, I digged that USB versions one.

Thank you Chris for an excellent summary. Very helpful for my work and my home setup. Keep it up

Another awesome, informative video Mr Barnett. Learning what Miracast and wi-fi direct are and can do were particularly meaningful to me. Now I'm a tad more dangerous

I always assumed the specification reflected the actual max effective transfer rate transfer f my devices. Thanks for this video!

Excellent video! Thank You Christopher!!!😊 I’ve learned a lot over the years from your videos…it’s great to know that faster “trains” are coming soon…

Thanks for this clear explanation of Wi-Fi standards. Have a great week.

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Thanks.

Top class research and explanation. Amazing work as always!

taking my A+ certification exam this week and this was a great refresher, thanks!

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Good luck in your exam.

@drumboy02

Жыл бұрын

​@@ExplainingComputersThank you! Feeling pretty confident, I watch your videos every week lol

Very useful indeed 👍 never knew what 802.11 meant. Thank you 🙏

This really cleared up my confusion over WiFi! Thank you, Professor...🇺🇸 😎👍☕

Thanks Chris for this very educational & well explained video, I didn't realise there was so much more to this, I'm amazed.

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for your support Alan, appreciated. :)

As usual another excellent video covering the things we often take for granted. The explanations were excellent and your format perfect.

At least it makes more sense than USB 3.x

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Very well said.

Thanks for the video, Chris. Very enlightening!

great explanation. very easy to follow, and it cleared up several questions that I have had.

I swear, Chris. Your videos are great. I've said it before but I'll say it again: I'm a huge fan.

Great introduction to WiFi! Thanks for the info!

The content, quality, and volume of the E C videos is amazing! Thank you E C Team!

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Thanks. :)

In Caribbean countries this was actually made into a movie strangely. It was called "PHY Rates of the Caribbean". They're expecting four sequels at least.

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Ah hah! :)

veryvery helpful. Well done, Chris!

Excellent job on another great video Chris. While not a Wi-Fi standard discussion point, it is worth noting that all the Wi-Fi standards over 1,000 Mbps won't get most users any benefit if the uplink on the access point or router is still running on a 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps) wired connection. While it is evolving, most consumer equipment does not support 2.5 or 10 Gbps ethernet. Another thing that comes into play and will cap your throughput is your ISP connection. So for most users that are consuming internet content the faster Wi-Fi technologies will likely not translate into faster real world experiences so don't waste the money on a Wi-Fi upgrade. However, support for newer security protocols like WPA3 might play a factor when considering an upgrade to aging equipment.

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

All very true. The average Internet connection globally remains about 100 megabits . . .

Wonderful video, very informative. Since Christmas I’ve had a WiFi 6 mesh system in our home. It’s incredible, and it’s range covers about 1/2 acre or more around the house. It’s also crazy fast. We formerly had 3 WiFi routers, names, and passwords, now just one. Again, excellent video.

Great Job Chris! You have made me want to go out and buy a new WiFi router lol! As always, enjoyed the infi very much!

Awesome job as usual Chris - thanks for putting all the work into that!

Thank you for such a wonderful and thorough explanation of all these wi-fi standards. This is all so much more clear to me now. I always enjoy and learn something from your great content. Sadly, in 2009 I had to stop using a device that I liked because of 802.11n being released. When there was a 802.11n connection within "earshot" of my device, it would be blinded from any available wi-fi access points. The wi-fi list would be empty. Apparently it only supported up to 802.11b and got confused with the new standard. The makers of the device deprecated it and said they would not fix the wi-fi issue in software. 😞

Nice a new video just in time about Wifi yeah we cant live without wifi these days for my part i have 6E and i love it .

İ learned new thing

Thanks Chris, an excellent refresher.

Thanks a lot for this easy to understand explanation!

I switched from a single modem/router combo to a Google mesh Wi-Fi network and it made a big difference. Even though it's the earlier model and not the newer "Nest Wi-Fi", the speed and stability is much improved over what my household was using before. That, and it has WPA3.

Thank you for this clear summary!

Nice presentation, Chris. 👍

Very informative and clear. I never realised the bay difference the quality of equipment could make.

Very clear and detail enough for public.

I am terribly weak when it comes to networking, so I really appreciate this one

I like your train analogy, incredible this happens at the speed of light but as you point out many factors slow it down, along with error correction. Factor in VPN encryption too and it is amazing how it works at all. We've come a long way since Telstar.

Well this was a surprise!!!!!!!! Here I was connecting to Australia's Fibre network (FTTN) with the supplied modem/router to just check and see it's only 802.11/b/g/n and my router showed 65mb/sec yet my actual is 80 mb/sec. So I'm missing out on extra bandwidth and it also varies and is prone to other devices in our home. I'm on 2.4GHZ because 5 MHZ was problematic because mine is a cheap ISP router. I then connected a CAT 5 cable and now it's incredibly stable and my FS 2020 flying experience is so much smoother and stable. Thank you sir!! Again. ;-)

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Greetings. Glad to hear that has helped you to make some improvements. :)

New topic on new Sunday And here we meet again. Greetings!🎉

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Greetings indeed!

Nice explanation...I never knew all the standards or the real history of WFi.

Exactly what I was looking for. Surprisingly, this was infinitely more informative than all those "best adapter settings" videos. Thank you for the info. :)

I learned quite a lot about wi-fi from this video. Thanks, Chris! ❤️

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Greetings on another Sunday. And thanks for your support. :)

@Praxibetel-Ix

Жыл бұрын

@@ExplainingComputers You're welcome! Hope that all is well.

Thank you very much Christopher, I really appreciate that a bunch ❤

I had the first proper WiFi in 1997 it seemed like a logical step for some things I seem to remember it being a pain to get up and running

An important thing to mention on throughput is that WiFi is actually half duplex, and wired Ethernet throughput speeds are specified as full duplex connections. Won't make a huge difference with very asymmetrical traffic, though being half duplex will be a lot bigger problem with more symmetrical traffic flows.

Another excellent presentation. Thanks Chris.

I been doing this since PCs were invented. I always learn something new form you. Thanks Chris! :)

Super helpful video! I always wondered what the difference was between Wi-Fi 5 and 6. Thank you!

Great video, helped me make sense of the naming of the standards! A small detail: at 10:15 you said "Wireless Equivalent Privacy" but you probably meant "Wired Equivalent Privacy". 🔎

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Indeed. My bad. :(

Another awesome video Chris, cheers

Thank you for this video Chris.

As always with EC, I learned some new useful things.

Awesome presentation, thanks a lot!

Excellent, I think that this explanation will a standard for wifi simple questions.

I'm a Wifi Support engineer and I enjoyed the standards refresher very much... It's hard to keep all the nasty details in your head.... One thing to note; The faster the Wifi gets, the closer to the AP you need to be... Looking forward to Wifi-10 for home use... Hahaha...

Another fantastic easy to understand educational tutorial. Great graphics beautifully explained. Well done sir.😊

Thank you for this Chris, I never had the different generations explained in such a clear manner.

Now that I’ve watched this video, I’ll have to check out how old my Wi-Fi is. I’ve been a bit disappointed with its performance lately. Looking forward to your next video!

Very informative, thanks, Chris.

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Jim. :)

Great video! I closely followed wifi evolution since I bought my first wifi access point (wap) in the spring of 2000. I started drifting away from following that evolution about 2010 when my local (and only) internet provider was sold to AT&T who immediately shut down the "fiber to the home" program the previous provider had been implementing. Jump forward to 2022 when I moved to a new home with fiber to the home. I immediately discovered WiFi 5 which meets my current needs very nicely. I quickly learned that old hardware limits your ability to benefit from the newer standards, but not completely. I look forward to WiFi 7 or whatever they call it.

Very informative! Good Show! Explains a lot. Now using my 'AC' WIFI Dongle instead of the 'N' Wifi Card lol card was very slow it runs at 144 MBPS{WIFI 4) and the 'AC' Dongle(WIFI 5) runs at 433 MBPS. Can't wait for wifi 6