Antennas or is it Antennae in style when it comes to routers
Their is strength in numbers, even when one is talking about the external antennas (or is it antennae) found on routers. The benefits of having antennas is that it provides speed and reliability, and that can be found through the six antennas on the AC3200 Ultra Series Wi-Fi Router from D-Link. The AC3200 Router features Smart Beam Forming to send focused beams of bandwidth directly to your devices. The AC3200 Router is also able to provide premium wireless connectivity with its 3x3 wireless configuration.
All Wi-Fi routers have transmitter and receiver antennas to communicate wirelessly over a radio channel with you smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other connected devices. When a router has one transmit antenna and one receive antenna, it has what is called a 1x1 SISO (single input/single output) configuration. If it has two transmit antennas and two receive antennas, it has a 2x2 MIMO (multiple input/multiple output) configuration. The AC3200 Router has the 3x3 MIMO meaning it has three transmit antennas and three receive antennas.
A multitude of dynamics come together in order to determine the Wi-Fi speed, one of the main factors is the number of antennas a router has and in turn the number of spacial streams it can communicate over. The 1x1 SISO router can only transmit a single stream of data between a router and client, the 3x3 routers are able to send and receive data over three spatial streams, tripling data rates. An example can be presented with an 802.11n routers that have a maximum data transfer rate of 150 Mbps per spacial stream, so a 1x1 Wireless N Router has a maximum theoretical speed of 150 Mbps. The same router with 3x3 MIMO capabilities and its maximum theoretical speed triples to up to 450Mbps. Wireless AC routers take it further as the 802.11ac routers have a maximum data transfer rate of 433Mbps per spacials stream on the 5GHz band, so a 3x3 11AC router has a maximum speed of 1.3Gbps.
The AC3200 Ultra Series Wi-Fi Router has the antennas located on different places on the device, which makes signals being received different as well. The variations are called spacial diversity and it assists in improving link reliability. Once each antenna has received a signal the router algorithmically combines the different versions to create a better version.
Ultra-fast speed for HD streaming and gaming can be provided for your personal device and general use. Smartphones, laptops, tablets, Smart TVs, game consoles, and more can be connected at the same time as the AC3200 router has Tri-Band Technology and speeds up to 3.2 Gbps. The 2.4GHz wireless band offer speeds up to 600Mbps and two separate 5GHz wireless bands delivering speeds up to 1300Mbps that all operate at the same time. The processing power is also great with a 1 GHZ Dual Core Processor that provides power to support more devices and app at home. The capabilities it provides mean more lag free online gaming, 4K media streaming, and Facetime on more devices throughout your home.
The AC3200 Router provides future-proofing for your network along with opportunity for devices to progress. Wireless clients just like wireless router have to transmit and receive antennas and the number of spacial streams utilized will always be limited by the device with the lowest number of supported signals. If a router supports 3x3 and your phone only supports 1x1 then your phone will not be able to take full advantage of your router’s 3x3 MIMO configuration. Many laptops have a 2x2 MIMO and iPhones have a 1x1 SISO configuration. The introduction of the router could have the market begin to move to introduce more 3x3 devices, so the upgrade to the AC3200 Ultra Series Wi-Fi Router is the way to go. The product can currently be purchased on Amazon at a price of $215.99.