If you have ever been annoyed by public wi-fi hotspots being slow because of over use and a lack of capacity, help is on the way.
Compaines at Mobile World Congress 2011 have been demonstrating first 802.11 transceiver chipsets which will work in thehigher 5GHz frequency band.
Significance of this is that it will make far more radio channels available at each wi-fi basestation.
See also: Mobile World Congress: Your Electronics Weekly guide
Current 802.11 wi-fi transceivers operate in the 2.4GHz frequency band and there is enough spectrum available for just three 20MHz radio channels.
The next version of the 802.11 standard defines operation at the higher 5GHz band where is more spectrum available and so 25 radio channels can be supported by each basestation.
This creates a potential eight-fold increases in network capacity, which suppliers say will make public wi-fi hotspots more reliable.
Also the increased number of channels means that channels can be used togther to support higher date rates.
Up to 150Mbit/s potentially.
According to a spokesman for 802.11 chip supplier Broadcom, he expects to see a number of smartphones and netbooks launched this year with the new 5GHz 802.11 tranceivers.
Basestations supporting the higher frequency are already developed and ready to roll.
The message from MWC 2011 in Barcelona this year is that 5GHz wi-fi is on its way.
Richard Wilson, Barcelona