Alright so I did as much research as I possibly can and I learned a great deal about these newer technologies from this website but I still can't find a clear explanation of "streams" and how they relate to the number of antenna connectors in a laptop.
Here is my understanding so far, just to see if I am thinking about this correctly:
For wireless-N, each stream has a theoretical max throughput of 150mbps. So, dual stream is 350mbps and triple stream is 450mbps. This is easy to understand when it comes to routers as the specifications are posted regarding the router. The problem I have is when it comes to laptop wireless cards. So, my card, the Intel Wireless-N 135 is a single stream card capable of 150mbps. It has two antenna connectors. When I look at Intel's dual stream capable cards, they also have two antenna connectors. So, my first question is if I get a dual stream card, will I actually be able to use dual stream and get the (theoretical) 300mbps speed using those same two connectors? Triple stream cards have three connectors, but I don't have that third connector so I am going to consider myself limited to one or two streams for now.
The next question is if I wanted to upgrade to an AC network. Again, talking about streams, each one for AC is 433mbps. So we have theoretical max speeds of 433, 866, and 1300 for single, dual, and triple respectively. My question is if these same connector types for wireless-N are compatible with this new AC standard? Can I basically just change my N card to an AC card, plug in the antennas and be good to go? How many streams will I be capable of, with 2 antenna connectors?
Thanks in advance for explanations and help.
Here is my understanding so far, just to see if I am thinking about this correctly:
For wireless-N, each stream has a theoretical max throughput of 150mbps. So, dual stream is 350mbps and triple stream is 450mbps. This is easy to understand when it comes to routers as the specifications are posted regarding the router. The problem I have is when it comes to laptop wireless cards. So, my card, the Intel Wireless-N 135 is a single stream card capable of 150mbps. It has two antenna connectors. When I look at Intel's dual stream capable cards, they also have two antenna connectors. So, my first question is if I get a dual stream card, will I actually be able to use dual stream and get the (theoretical) 300mbps speed using those same two connectors? Triple stream cards have three connectors, but I don't have that third connector so I am going to consider myself limited to one or two streams for now.
The next question is if I wanted to upgrade to an AC network. Again, talking about streams, each one for AC is 433mbps. So we have theoretical max speeds of 433, 866, and 1300 for single, dual, and triple respectively. My question is if these same connector types for wireless-N are compatible with this new AC standard? Can I basically just change my N card to an AC card, plug in the antennas and be good to go? How many streams will I be capable of, with 2 antenna connectors?
Thanks in advance for explanations and help.