Cisco Blogs – NBASE-T and 802.11ac Wave 2 Just Makes Sense
One of the most daunting aspects of updating your wireless network to the 802.11ac Wave 2 standard is that much of your infrastructure won’t be wired to handle the increased speed of your new network. It’s sort of like having a bullet train, but not having the tracks.
Where does this leave you? One option would be to remove the old cables and replace them with wiring that will allow you to take advantage of this speed. But that’s an expensive solution that’s incredibly time-consuming—it’s not easy to fish out those wires and then patch up and paint the inevitable holes in the wall.
The easiest and most cost-responsible thing to do is install the foundation of IEEE standardization (via the 802.3bz task force), NBASE-T technology. NBASE-T technology is a type of Ethernet signaling that ups the speed of the already-installed cabling. That means you can put the sledgehammers down, you’re not going to need them. Cabling that now reach top speeds of 1Gbps (for up to 100 meets) will be augmented to reach up to 2.5Gbps or 5Gbps, provided that they are Cat5e and Cat6 cables.
