Subject: RE: Meeting Survey Results

From: "Odonoghue, Karen F CIV B35-Branch" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 12:20:23 -0600

Well, in theory, 802.11a should scale better because of the
shorter range and the additional non-overlapping channels.
Now, I'm not guaranteeing that there won't be other issues we
haven't identified. We haven't had the density on 11a yet to
find the problems we don't know about.  What we do know is that
thus far folks using 11a on IETF networks have been happier than
folks using 11b.

Karen

> How much of the benefit of 801.11a is because so few people are using 
> it?  Would it hold up if everyone switched to it?
> 
> Yes, there are more frequencies and less congestion.  Is that enough?
> 
> 		--Steven M. Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb
> 
> 
> 
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From: "Steven M. Bellovin" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 13:38:03 -0500

In message <[email-masked]
>thus far folks using 11a on IETF networks have been happier than

Yup.  And the difference between theory and practice is that in theory, 
there is no difference, but in practice there is...

I agree with your observation -- 802.11a users are more satisfied with 
the network.  I made sure that I got an 802.11a-capable interface when 
I bought a new laptop.  But I'm reluctant to tell everyone to do that 
without more assurance that it will solve the problem.  We've heard 
lots of hypotheses over the years on what to do about 802.11b/g, 
including lower-power access points, more attention to channel 
assignment, and getting people to turn off ad hoc mode.  None of those 
have solved the problem.  Will switching to 802.11a?  Is there other 
prior art we need to look at?

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From: Harald Tveit Alvestrand <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 10:52:46 -0800

[the dreaded subject-changer strikes again]

> thus far folks using 11a on IETF networks have been happier than

One thing I learned at the IEEE meeting the week following the IETF (where 
the week started with EXACTLY the same problems as at the IETF) was that 
the 802.11a specifications left out the "ad hoc mode".

So we're *guaranteed* that no conformant 802.11a card will go into "ad hoc 
mode", because there ain't no such thing.

Yours for the removal of features....

                  Harald

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From: David Kessens <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 11:46:24 -0800

Steve,

> prior art we need to look at?

Theory and practical experience both indicate that 802.11a can give
you better performance in IETF settings.

And for the record, we are not talking about switching to 802.11a
(check out: http://www.ietf.org/meetings/notes_noc65.html). We are
advising people to bring a card/dongle that is capable of 802.11a to
take advantage of this better performing technology. At current prices
(it is not hard to find prices well below US$50), this seems a rather
small investment to make.

David Kessens
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