Wireless USB 1.1 Targets 1Gbps, Device Bonding by Contact

D-link, Belkin and IOGear are busy shipping the first batch of WUSB hubs this month. When everyone's happy about cutting the cords, Intel brought us bad news that Wireless USB 1.1 is in the works. This supposedly fine tunes the protocol to make it more efficient and will support band groups at 6Ghz and above in addition to 3-4Ghz bands of WUSB 1.0. The new specs also targets for speed from 480Mbps to 1Gbps as well as simplifying device bonding by means of contacting each other.

Despite the optimism, manufacturers need to deliver at 500Mbps from their MAC to achieve the goal, which is overly difficult at the moment. First-gen devices are crawling at rates of 40Mbps or less, so we really could use the extra speed. Don't hold your breathe even though; the first patch to WUSB won't come until late 2008.