When it comes to WiFi signals, the routers many of us have in our homes today are hampered by barriers such as walls and other electronic devices that interfere with the signal. Because of this, routers never quite deliver the speeds manufacturers claim they’re capable of, especially when multiple devices are involved.
In a recent announcement, Samsung Electronics claims to have solved this problem by developing new technology, and get this – this new tech will boost WiFi speeds fivefold!
60GHz goodness
By harnessing the 60GHz frequency band, Samsung’s new technology will give us data transfer rates at a whopping 4.6Gbps (575 Mb/s). Compare that to current maximum Wi-Fi speeds, which clock in at a mere 866Mbps (108Mb/s). With this blistering WiFi speed, that 1gig movie that would’ve taken you hours to download, could be in your device in less than 3 seconds.
Sure, there are already accessories such as the “WiGig” (named because of its gigabyte transfer capability) that utilize the 60GHz frequency. The problem with these devices though is that the signals they emit are still obstructed by walls and other objects, so you need to be within a short range, and probably even in the same room when you’re connected to them.
Samsung Electronics claims they have successfully surpassed these limits using “high-performance modem technologies and by developing wide-coverage beam-forming antenna.” What this means is the router detects the precise location of your laptop, smartphone, or tablet, and sends a beam directly to the device, as opposed to broadcasting a “scattered” signal, which is how current routers operate. This effectively eliminates co-channel interference, so users get to enjoy maximum WiFi speeds, regardless of how many other devices are connected to the network.
Samsung expects the commercialization of the unlicensed 60 GHz WiFi band spectrum by next year. According to their press release, they plan to “apply this new technology to a wide range of products, including audio visual and medical devices, as well as telecommunications equipment. The technology will also be integral to developments relevant to the Samsung Smart Home and other initiatives related to the Internet of Things.”
Faster and likely more reliable networking? Sign me up. Always good to hear about improvements on the tech front as it’s never just for one segment. As you mentioned, it can also have an impact on medical devices and so much more. I can’t wait!
I know right? I can’t wait for this new technology to come out, although I probably won’t receive it since we haven’t even received DSL out here where I live haha. It’s a bad life out here in the country, but I don’t have much choice. 😉
Well it’s just WiFi, even if you install one of these in your homes you’re still limited by your ISP’s bandwidth allocation.
Thinking about download speeds that fast is insane, but my only concern would be its actual application in the future, as ISP’s would have to be providing packages of that speed to consumers.
Not necessarily. ISPs are one thing and transfers between users and businesses are another. I think the first field which would enjoy the benefit are setups such as residential transfers. For example, communities living in buildings or other business scenarios where different departments can do without wired connections and still enjoy those enhances speeds. Here’s a great potential market for sure.
That is one amazing news for wireless and internet fans!
What more important thing to note is, with advent of capability to use 60 gigs band, how Samsung is trying to conquer the wireless market.
Indeed, it was one nice read.
Certainly sounds amazing, I’m looking forward to its implementation. One of the biggest issues though in my opinion is that many surfing speeds are limited by ISPs instead of the available router technologies, unless you fork out a lot of money for a high-speed plan. In this regard Samsung’s new wi-fi technology while amazing would not really do much in my opinion.
I think the targeting of devices is a really good idea, although I don’t know how exactly it would work. The beam can only be so concentrated, and with devices that will most likely move, it may be hard to target a signal. Perhaps motors in the router maybe? But honestly, having a 4.6 Gbps connection over wireless is pretty amazing. But with current speeds, a 1 GB movie won’t really take hours to download, somewhere around 10-20 minutes when I do so. But then again, that’s with a max of 25 Mbps, which, for me, tops out at around 3 MB/s, but I could see others with lower speeds taking hours, those at 1-5 Mbps speeds especially.
4.6 Gbps capability is impressive, but the cost for any internet above 50 mbps is way expensive. I can only imagine the cost of a 4.5 gbps connecting, it will probabaly set you back $160 – $220 on its own a month. I honestly think its gonna be awhile before 4.5 gbps will be mainstream, It will first be availalbe in areas with good exsisting internet infrastucture, I’m thinking about 10 years before every Tom, Dick and Harry has it.
This is both awesome and sad. Awesome because I love Samsung and I have a Samsung Galaxy right now. Sad because I am switching to a HTC phone. But hey, if these new adjustments work as well as they claim I will definitely be switching back to Samsung.
I don’t really understand the point of these faster WiFi networks. Service providers barely go higher than 100MBPS, unless you’re one of the few that has Google in which case you get 1GBPS. So what’s the point of more bandwidth than that unless you’re transferring Gigabytes of data over your router all day long. It’s good to have, but not needed at the moment.
Exciting announcement from Samsung. For a second there I thought I have heard of WiGig discussed elsewhere online, but really I have not. Routers do tend to be working not as planned when placed in different environments with different surroundings. When connecting to programs that require large use of bandwidth the quality of internet service often experience a bit of glitches that could be eliminated all together with a tool offering such increase in speed.
I’m a bit confused as to how this is going to work. If they can get this to work then this will be revolutionary for the telecom sector. I do like the idea of being able to download large files at breakneck speed. I currently have a Galaxy, so this will be a cool addition to the Samsung brand.
It’s really amazing how big numbers fool the public. Wifi speeds only matter after the ISP bandwidth. If your ISP speeds are just under 10 Mbps, you’ll get that same amount no matter how high the speeds your wifi can support. An ethernet cable is capable of 100 Mbps but no one is jumping up and down because of this.