Block acknowledgements are a tried and true method of wired networking. Block acknowledgements allow more data to be sent before the receiving party must acknowledge receipt of the data. This reduces protocol overhead and effectively increases data throughput. Though the throughput gains are not nearly as large as those achieved with MIMO or channel bonding, the efficiencies achieved with block acknowledgements are certainly worth mentioning. Block acknowledgements are also already widely used in shipping 802.11n-capable hardware.

assembles data into more efficient packages for transmission across the network. This efficiency comes in several forms. For very small amounts of data, 11n combines data that would originally have been sent using multiple data packets into a single data packet. For large data sets that can't fit into even the maximum allowed data packet, 11n decomposes the data into multiple packets, but treats the packet stream as if it was a single packet, and then uses the block acknowledgement feature. Though these approaches are quite different, the end result is the same -- reduced protocol overhead, which effectively increases data throughput.

Aggregation is a sophisticated 11n technique, but the user need not worry about it. The use of aggregation, and the specific type required, is determined by the hardware itself and is transparent to the end user. Aggregation has been available in shipping 11n hardware for a while, but support for both aggregation techniques has been inconsistent from manufacturer to manufacturer, though this is changing and most new hardware is now supporting both types of aggregation.