One the biggest complaints about Open Source Wireless Mesh is the lack of availability of Radio Cards and more to the point the lack of speed and bandwidth. The problem with Linux distro's are they don't support many types of radio cards.  There restricted to Prism chip sets or Anthros. There are also Atmel drivers available. Nevertheless the problem also is the lack of speed and bandwidth. One would think that with 802.11G that bandwidth would really help.  Well so far it is really limited to short distance.  

On the horizon, in 2006, there is a new standard call 802.11n. Yes it will be compatible with A and G but what it has is tremendous speed and bandwidth.  There has been talk about speed exceeding 300 or 400 Mbps.  The product is call MIMO short for multiple-in, multiple-out.

This technology works by having multiple antennas 2 or more.  The technology is available to day that exceed 100Mbps but the problem with MIMO isn’t with the technology, but rather the manufacturers are based on non-standards. These radio cards won’t be certified by The Wi-Fi Alliance or any other group. So far Dlink, Bilken and a few more manufacturers  have access points and radio cards.  The talk on other blogs are that they are amazing and they blow away 802.11g for distance and performance. However they currently do not provide interoperability with other manufacturers.

The worst part, is  this generation of MIMO technology isn’t what the final 802.11n specification will look like. So purchasing MIMO today except for specific applications in which you need substantially higher throughput and range from a single device over interoperable, certified 802.11g means you may be buying a standalone device.

802.11n might achieve speeds of several hundred megabytes per second, and there’s is practically a total certainty that the final 802.11n won’t be just a firmware upgrade, but rather a difference in both hardware and silicon compared to today’s MIMO devices.

Here is where we all kick in. Again the biggest hurtle to these type of radio cards are that they don't have linux drivers and they cannot create an Access Point.  Rather than wait for someone to make linux drivers why don't we all ask the main chip manufacturer to provide Linux drivers that are worthy or creating an Access Point like Prism based radio cards? Since the standard is not official would a letter campaign by over 100,000 user get there attention?

The chip manufacturer is called:

Airgo Networks
900 Arastradero Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304

T: 650-475-1900
F: 650-475-1708

info@airgonetworks.com

Let start spreading the news and ask them in your own words to ensure that licensed manufacturers also produce linux drivers.