We have conducted an empirical study of the latest 5GHz IEEE 802.11wireless LAN (WLAN) variants of 802.11n (5GHz) and 802.11ac (Wave 1), underdifferent cell load conditions. We have considered typicalconfigurations of both protocols on a Linux testbed. Under light load, there is no clear difference between 802.11n and 802.11ac in terms ofperformance and energy consumption. However, in some cases of highcell load, we have found that there may be a small advantage with802.11ac. Overall, we conclude that there may be little benefit inupgrading from 802.11n (5GHz) to 802.11ac in its current offering, as thebenefits may be too small.