Samsung is promising that its currently in development Wi-Fi technology will significantly boost wireless Internet speeds when it launches next year.
The Korean manufacturer says its 60GHz Wi-Fi will offer speeds up to five times higher than current rates. Breaking that figure down further, Samsung states that its new tech will offer data transmission speeds of up to 4.6 gigabits per second or 575 megabytes (MB) per second. Current Wi-Fi speeds between theoretical and actual figures but tend to stand around 866 megabits per second or 108 MB second.
At Samsung’s rate, a 1GB movie could be downloaded in three seconds and HD videos could be streamed from mobiles to TVs in real time.
The new tech does this by overcoming the speed-killing issues that plague current Wi-Fi platforms, which are hindered by physical obstacles – such as walls and household appliances – by making use of beam forming antennae and micro beam-forming technology. Hardly the type of terminology that will be familiar to most of us, but as long as we can download Pacific Rim in glorious HD in a few seconds we’ll take Samsung’s word for it.
“Unlike the existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi technologies, Samsung’s 802.11ad standard 60GHz Wi-Fi technology maintains maximum speeds by eliminating co-channel interference, regardless of the number of devices using the same network,” said a statement from the company.
Samsung claims that it will release a wide range of new Wi-Fi integrated products as early as next year. The range of devices will encompass everything from audiovisual products to medical equipment.
Samsung’s latest initiative is part of a series of unconnected broadband experiments currently being trialled around the world. In Japan, local network operator DOCOMO is testing 5G mobile broadband in collaboration with phone-manufacturers. A new form of wireless communication known as ‘white spaces’ is also being trialled by Ofcom in the UK. Like Samsung’s tech, white Space also overcomes obstacle interference – where it differs is in its use of radio waves to travel longer distances and through walls.
