D-Link, TI Tweak 802.11b+ Speed

The firmware will be available for free on the D-Link Web site, but also will be sold at retail outlets for $29.99.

“A lot of our retailers were interested,” says Morse. “Having something that fast is significant. They think having it at the store, more people will get it.”

There may be enough customers out there to justify the retail move. A report this week from Synergy Research Group puts D-Link as the number four supplier of SOHO and home wireless networking equipment with 15.5% of the market. They lag only behind Linksys (with 19.6%), Buffalo Technology (15.8%) and Netgear (15.5% also). Synergy says the adoption of broadband in the home is the driving force behind the market.

This speed boost for D-Link’s products comes along with an announcement that they will be introducing a line of multi-mode products based on the draft for 802.11g, the high speed specification that uses the same radio frequency band as 802.11b. Because they share the band, 11g and 11b are compatible and will communicate with each other, albeit at the lower speed of 11b. The 11g specification allows vendors to support speeds up to 54Mbps if they choose. D-Link has not yet decided which chipset vendor they’ll use to power the new line of products.

Morse says 11g products won’t be around until the end of the first quarter of 2003. Even then, the company will not abandon 802.11b+ as it moves to the new specification, however. “It’s a situation where the tech has gone forward, we’re going forward to ‘g’ products, [but] we’re going to continue to provide for the ‘b+’ along the way.”