3. HomeRF

Updated February 2003

This standard was actually around before 802.11b in its older HomeRF 1.2 form and was made popular by Intel's AnyPoint Wireless and Proxim's Symphony product lines. It operates in the same 2.4 GHz band as 802.11b but uses FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) modulation that is less affected by microwave ovens or 2.4 GHz phones.

HomeRF's main weaknesses have been the 1.6Mbps raw data rate of the 1.2 version of the standard, and the shrinking number of companies who support the standard, with a major blow coming with Intel abandoned the HomeRF camp in mid 2001. The HomeRF 2.0 standard, with a 10Mbps raw data rate and support for 8 voice channels (separate from the data channels), was introduced in late 2001, but may be too late to effectively compete head-on with 802.11b. The HomeRF camp isn't giving up, however, and is aggressively pursuing embedded type applications with various set-top box suppliers. Proxim continues to be the main retail product supplier and is shipping the Symphony HomeRF product line (based on Home RF 2.0), in addition to the older Symphony-HRF (Home RF 1.2 based) line. Expect to see the older HRF line discontinued sometime in 2002.

Recommendation: - With the quiet disbanding of the HomeRF working group, I think it's safe to say that HomeRF is dead.