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Wi-Fi Dream Home Of The Future™ gets instructions for builders

Sensible stuff from Wi-Fi Alliance guides AP placement, channel usage and more

Interoperability and certification outfit the Wi-Fi Alliance has taken on quite a challenge: getting the home-building industry to do WiFi right.

The organisation on Wednesday published a Home Design standard it hopes will see builders create homes that are free of WiFi dead spots and ready for the expected increase in connected devices around the home.

The standard offers seven templates that describe how many access points a new home is likely to require and where they should go.

The suggestions are pleasingly detailed: certification WFA1006D (PDF) specifies a Brocade access point, calls for it to link to another over CAT6a cabling and explains the spectrum that should be used for spatial streams.

The designs also call for builders to “maintain less than 50 percent channel utilization with fewer than 35 devices per channel at time of installation to allow for future growth.” Which seems pretty far-sighted.

The designs are designed as guidance for those building new homes. The rest of us will have to make do with WiFI range extenders, cables behind sofas and other kludges. ®

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