Thoughts on 5GHz Wireless N Support in iPhone 4

Like many of you, I was both surprised and disappointed to hear that the iPhone 4 wouldn't ship with support for 5GHz Wireless N. It isn't that I require the speed, but more that I would like to get away from even running a 2.4GHz based B/G/N network in my home. I live in a townhouse and the 2.4GHz space is extremely crowded in my area, due to my proximity to my neighbors. That said, 5GHz is WIDE OPEN.

Apple has really lead the way (in my world) in terms of Wireless N on 5GHz. My current network consists of a current-gen Airport Extreme Base Station and three AirportExpress units (via 5GHz N) as network bridges. Bridge 1 is in the office, and connects to a small switch with for printers (laser and scanner/all-in-one). Yes, I can scan over wifi, but that is a story for another day. Bridge 2 connects the TiVo in my bedroom. Bridge 3 connects the TiVo and PS3 in my family room. Then consider the iPad and my AppleTV. In short, I've gone to great lengths to move out of the B/G/2.4GHz space and am really hoping that the iPhone 4 isn't the reason that I can't get there.

I finally got around to reading through the iFixIt teardown report of the iPhone 4 ( http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone-4-Teardown/3130/1) and noticed that it uses the Broadcom BCM4329FKUBG 802.11n with Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and FM receiver. A quick Google search later revels that that unit features integrated 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WLAN CMOS power amplifiers. Interestingly enough it also features FM receiver and transmitter (imagine an integrated FM transmitter for your car? and the ability to listen and time-shift radio like the current-gen iPod Nano).

http://www.broadcom.com/products/Bluetooth/Bluetooth-RF-Silicon-and-Software-Sol utions/BCM4329

So, here's hoping that Apple releases an update that both resolves wifi performance issues and enabled true 5GHz support. The FM features would just be gravy.