Multi-Gigabit AP Backhaul – Do you need it?
I was recently asked by a Wi-Fi engineer about the potential need for multi-gigabit backhaul needs from an AP with the pending release of 802.11ac Wave 2. This seems to be a point of confusion for many in the wireless industry. Here's what I told them:
Industry claims of throughput capabilities exceed 1 Gbps are correct from a theoretical standpoint. However, real world client mixes on almost every WLAN will mean that backhaul never approaches even close to 1 Gbps of throughput.
First, when you combine clients of varying capabilities there is no chance of exceeding 1 Gbps backhaul. The only time you will need more than 1 Gbps of backhaul is in POC bakeoffs between vendors, lab tests, and very low-density locations where you have only a few users on an AP radio but they are using top of the line high-end wireless laptops and applications that can push large amounts of data (I'm thinking CAD users here for instance who collaborate and push files of several GBs across the network and want it done fast). This is somewhat counter-intuitive because most people would think off-hand that high-density areas is where you'll need the greater backhaul. But in high-density areas Continue reading
This blog post is probably more personal than the usual posts here. It’s about why I joined CloudFlare.
