Wi-Fi Standard Changing at Stores

Apple is famous for constantly advancing into the future, requiring customers to make the leap from an ancient OS 9 to a Unix-based OS X operating system, accepting the loss of floppy disks, and making the leap from Motorola to Intel processors. Now the retail stores may be on the cusp of forcing another change, as some stores are swapping out gear that uses only the latest Wi-Fi technical standard, cutting lose visitors with computers still using the previous standards that are up to 10 years-old. Apple debuted Wi-Fi in 1999 as AirPort for its new iBooks just after the 802.11ab standard was adopted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The 802.11g standard was adopted in 2003, and first used by Apple as Airport Extreme in Powerbooks that year. Apple and other technology companies began using a draft 802.11n standard for its products in 2007, a specification that the IEEE should fully adopt by this November. According to visitors, some stores have configured their Wi-Fi gear, leaving only the “n” Wi-Fi accessible for laptop visitors to the stores.

Here’s the AirPort Extreme set-up screen, showing the four configuration possibilities. It seems that Apple wants to move to one of the “802.11n only” modes, which would leave behind certain legacy users who visit the store to browse the Web or check their e-mail.