Thus spake "Richard A Steenbergen" <ras@e-gerbil.net>
On Thu, Jun 13, 2002 at 02:34:29PM -0500, Stephen Sprunk wrote:
The choice of RC4 was unfortunate given the above problem, but the coming switch to AES should fix that.
Most existing wireless APs cannot keep up with 802.11b doing RC4 (which is EXTREMELY light on the cpu) at line rate. I'm afraid to see what they consider acceptable for AES, anything done as a firmware upgrade is going to be quite limiting. At least for 802.11a I believe they're doing better.
Most vendors chose to do their RC4 encryption in software and consequently can't do more than 1-2mb/s -- caveat emptor. That's hardly a failing of the 802.11 WG; at least one vendor can do RC4 (and soon AES) at wire rate. "You can have it good, fast, or cheap -- pick two." S