airport2

It's my understanding that there is one leading alternative to the current Airport spec. (The current spec is called 802.11b and operates at 11Mbps).

Ironically, the newer spec is called "802.11a".

It is supposed to sport a maximum throughput of 54 Mbps. However, that speed comes at the price of about half the range of 802.11b. It is also supposed to be considerably more expensive. There are also companies working to improve this throughput to 78 Mbps.

Does anyone know of other specs that might be used for the second generation of Airport devices?

With so much complaint about current Aiport range (esp on TiBooks), I have a tough time believing that we will see a second-generation Airport (based on 802.11a) without significant improvement in range.