Just as a follow up to last week’s techCast, the IEEE has announced that the new 802.11n standard second draft could be delayed until January of 2007. That would push back the ratification of Wireless-N to 2008. 2008! That’s a long way off, folks. As many of you are aware, there are tons of products out there on the market that are claiming to be Draft-N wireless products. This simply means that they are based on the Draft that was voted upon in January of this year.

I know that companies like to introduce new products. The general public clamors for something new every few months or few years, so manufacturers have to keep up with the demand of the public. But here’s the problem, any type of wireless device, whether it be a router, adapter card, USB adapter, print server, or anything else under the sun, that is Draft-N will probably not be compliant to the final, ratified version of 802.11n. This is where early adopters can really get bitten in the you-know-what for jumping up and buying the newest toys too soon.

My advice, stick with 802.11g for now. It’s plenty fast enough. Wait for the final 802.11n standard to be released, then go blow your hard-earned cash on that new router. You’ll be much happier