Wireless N routers, what's the difference ?

[Valv]

I am looking to speedup the wireless connections inside my house.

We have 4 computers, 4 cell phones, 2 TVs, 2 game consoles, all use wireless to some extent. Sometimes to be able to watch a streaming movie I have to "ban" the children from browsing online, downloading, etc.

I am looking at the Wireless N routers, I like Linksys, I've been using them for past 10 years and I am very happy with it.

Do I have to upgrade each system to a wireless N adapter or standard B or G will work as well. How about game consoles, Playstation doesn't have N, right ?

[upnorth]

A quick look at the linksys site and it shows the model I pulled up as being backwards compatible with b/g devices.

Something to consider is Wireless-N is not going to make your internet connection any faster. What it will make faster is your internal network, files sharing, music and video sharing between your internal devices are going to be be much faster.

[LMITOUT]

I believe that 'n' routers are typically backward compatible with the 'b' and 'g' standards, so a new router and a new 'n' wireless card for the PC you generally use for streaming may help your bandwidth congestion and the other devices should still work as they do now.

I guess I'm not sure how much difference there is between the different standards when talking speeds. Is 'n' twice as fast as 'g'? It's possible that you have so much going on that it's not so much the router but your available bandwidth coming into the home.

I have a Linksys WRT160N but don't have the "load" you have so I can't say how much it matters. It is compatible with b and g standards as well.

[DTro]

I think the "N" will also give you stronger signal that will travel further.

[Valv]

Thanks guys, I knew it was backward compatible, my concern was to get more LAN bandwidth, do I have to get N cards or will it be enough with what I have.

My DSL speed is definitely a concern, I have the max I can get being served by our local phone company (no other choice).

I ordered a refurb 160N RangePlus, I will test it this way and post the results for others.

[spearchucker]

Hard wired connections are the way to go for heavy traffic. I have my TV's, PS3, and desktop on wired gigabit connections (CAT5E or CAT6). The wireless G is used for laptop, iPod, and Wii. The PS3 has gigabit ethernet ports, but only Wireless G.

If hardwired is not an option, you would be best to go with a simultaneous dual-band N router. That way you can split up G and N devices on separate networks. You could run the G devices on the 2.4GHz band and N devices on the 5GHz band at the same time. These routers are a little more expensive ($100-200) but should do the job. I don't know that an N router is going to help with a congestion problem if you are still running G unless the router is old and just needs more horsepower to process multiple connections. If everything is accessing the internet your DSL is going to be the clog and congestion on the LAN is not the problem.

[Valv]

I don't know that an N router is going to help with a congestion problem if you are still running G unless the router is old and just needs more horsepower to process multiple connections.

Thanks spear, that's what I wanted to know. I already ordered a 160N refurbished, it was $ 35. I think afterall it has to be better than my old trusted BEFSR which I had for past 6 years.

We'll see what happens....

[spearchucker]

I've had good luck with refurbished units in the past. The Netgear that I am running now was a refurbished unit that I bought for $24 over 2 years ago.

[Valv]

Update to this topic.

Router came in and was a breeze to install. Speed has increased enormously, I can download tunes, have the kids browse, and watch a movie while I notice the buffering it's way ahead of the played mark, all at the same time.

My 2 thumbs up to this unit, I was confident to get small increase of speed on my internal network, and blame my local phone company 5mb DSL for most of the problems, but I was wrong.

Nice part is I am running 802.11 G only, not even 1 N yet.

[upnorth]

Good to hear Valv. I am a bit surprised down load speeds went up, your old router must have been having issues.

[Valv]

I think I blame mostly the range factor. The new one has Rangeplus which in my opinion covers my house better. My computers are scattered all over in 2 floors. I can see why the old one had some problems getting a good strong signal everywhere.

[upnorth]

That does make sense.

[Rip_Some_Lip]

Not to hijack this post but I have been thinking of getting a wireless router. I only have one PC as of now and my PS2 is hardwired. I have to unplug my PC to play the PS2 online. I am thinking of getting a laptop and my son has a Nintendo DSi. I am also thinking of getting a PS3 someday but will leave that hardwired with the same cable as I have now. I assume I can plug both the PC and PS2 cable into a wireless router. What type of router would I need to accomidate these? I don't want to spend too much. Thanks.

[upnorth]

Linksys, netgear and a few others have wireless routers with a 4/5 port switch built in $50 to $60 and you should be in business. But if like Valv you are spread all over the higher end ones would work better.

[spearchucker]

Get the one that Valv just bought and you will be fine.

[hoggs222]

Since it's solved, another hijack question? While streaming movies from pc to ps3 on wireless g connection, do you have issues running the microwave? If I run the microwave for more than 15 seconds it freezes the movie up.

Would this be something that a "N" network might solve? PS3 is hard wired to the router.

[upnorth]

I have my doubts whether N would overcome the interference from a microwave. Wireless is nice and it works well, but there are a lot of things out there that interfere with it. I have worked on several enterprise level wireless networks and handheld 2.4GHZ phones, microwaves, and blue tooth are the worst things that can be brought into the environment. Even if they aren't on in the same freguency/band range all that stuff out there bouncing around causes problems. It is a nightmare. Wind up screwing around with power settings, channels, spectrum analyzers etc. And of course no one can give up any of the devices that cause problems.

But I do believe N allows for using the 5ghz range and there is less interference there but I am not sure all devices out there will talk on 5ghz. And like wireless A, 5 ghz will have a shorter range than the 2.4 ghz. Trade offs.

[spearchucker]

Upnorth is right. 5GHz will not penetrate walls as easily and will probably have less range. The 5GHz band will probably have less interference because there are less devices operating in that spectrum.

Not all N routers will do 5GHz, so be sure to check. The more expensive ones are called Dual Band and will do 2.4GHz or 5GHz. The best ones can TX and RX on both bands simultaneously, the cheaper ones can only RX and Tx on one band at a time. You have to give priority to one band or the other. You also have to have an adapter on your PC that will support 5GHz band.

[spearchucker]

... PS3 is hard wired to the router.

I just saw this. Did you do this after you had the interference with the wireless? You should have no interference when using a wired connection. I would leave it as wired anyway. The PS3 has gigabit ethernet and will always work better than any wireless connection. I use a hardwired connection back to my PC and can stream HD movies with surround sound with no problems.

[simple1]

Everyone should remember what spearchucker was saying about a dual band router for G and N. If you dont have a dual band router, your router will default to the lowest standard. So if you have a wireless G laptop and a wireless N laptop connected to the network, you will be at wireless G speeds.

[hoggs222]

Spear,

The PS3 has always been hardwired to the router. It's just that my pc (in a different room) with all the movies on it are streamed to the router, then the ps3 picks them up through the ethernet.

[spearchucker]

Everyone should remember what spearchucker was saying about a dual band router for G and N. If you dont have a dual band router, your router will default to the lowest standard. So if you have a wireless G laptop and a wireless N laptop connected to the network, you will be at wireless G speeds.

I don't think that this is always the case with the high end routers. Wireless G is 2.4GHz, but N can be 2.4GHz or 5GHz depending on your adapter. Ideally with a Dual Band N router you would use the 2.4 GHz channel for G compatibilty if needed and the 5GHz band for you high bandwidth N traffic. The better routers can deal with both and have such a performance hit. Some of the cheaper ones will slow down to G speed when running any G devices. From what I have read you don't get that much benefit from 5 GHz N unless you are only going a short distance.

[spearchucker]

Spear,

The PS3 has always been hardwired to the router. It's just that my pc (in a different room) with all the movies on it are streamed to the router, then the ps3 picks them up through the ethernet.

I do the same thing. Not to nit pick, but they are streamed directly from the PC to the PS3. The router just completes the connection and routes the data to the correct spot.