D-Link Announces Dual-Band N Bridge

Hole discovered in Wi-Fi 802.11n Draft 2.0 Certification test

SmallNetBuilder has discovered a hole in the Wi-Fi Alliance's 802.11n Draft 2.0 test suite that can allow Wi-Fi Certified products to interfere with existing wireless networks, in direct violation of a mandatory Certification requirement.

A long-running battle in the standard has been whether to allow the use of "wide-channel" operation in the 2.4 GHz band that is used by the majority of Wi-Fi products. The mode, also referred to as "channel bonded" or "40 MHz bandwidth" mode, uses up two of the available three non-overlapping channels in the band, making it impossible to avoid interfering with other wireless networks operating in the center of the band.

Interference from draft 802.11n channel-bonded networks can, at worst, render 802.11b and g wireless networks inoperable and, at minimum, cause slowdowns and unreliable connections.