Buffalo has announced that its 802.11ac next-generation Wi-Fi solution is now on the market. It has jointly made available its AirStation WZR-D1800H wireless router and its WLI-H4-D1300 wireless media bridge available so users can hook straight up to Wi-Fi speeds 3 times faster than 802.11n and 30 percent faster than Gigabit Ethernet. The new router is also dual-band capable and will support older Wi-Fi devices.
The WLI-H4-D1300 wireless media bridge is a necessary part of the equation allowing up to 4 Ethernet-capable devices connect wireless to the AirStation WZR-D1800H router. It will currently only achieve these transfer speeds in this configuration, or using a similar 802.11ac-capable media bridge as there are currently few if any shipping wireless devices with the new Wi-Fi spec built-in. On the 5GHz band it will achieve speeds up to 1300Mbps and will support speeds up to 450Mbps on the 2.4GHz band.
In addition to remaining backwards compatible with older Wi-Fi specifications, both the router and the media bridge also support Gigabit Ethernet and include 4 Gigabit LAN ports. The router offers an additional 1 Gigabit WAN port.
The new Buffalo 802.11ac AirStation router and media bridge are retailing for $180 each. Although they are not yet available through Buffalo’s own webstore, they should be hitting shops any day.
