Upgradeing Wireless Router G to N ?

Chris Freeland

SatelliteGuys Pro
Sep 8, 2003
615
0
Collegedale, TN
I have bean having trouble with my wireless G router connections going in and out, mostly with 2 Macbooks , my Win XP desktop which is wired directly with router not as often or as many problems. I was thinking of just replacing my router with a new N wireless router. Are N routers worth the extra $? Will I also need to get N cards for my 2 Makbooks or are N routers backward compatible with the G built in to the Macbooks? Or should I save a few $ and just upgrade my antenna's and or move my router to another location ( currently close to my TV and other A/V equipment ) ?
 

Van

SatelliteGuys Master
Jul 8, 2004
9,325
9
Virginia Beach
N gives more range so if you have a palace then it would help specialy if there are alot of dead spots and your current router is placed wisely. If your an average Joe then stick with the G and see if you can find some of the 8 inch antenna's as Im asuming that the ones that are on your cards now are probably the 3 inch ones wich are seriously underpowered for the task.

Some of the N routers are compatible with G and some arent, some companies arent compatible with others such as Linksys and Netgear wich I had problems with and had to get a netgear card when I didnt want to.
 

mike123abc

Too many cables
Supporting Founder
Sep 25, 2003
25,804
5,129
Norman, OK
I have the D-Link DIR 655 it talks to everything I use very fast (2 laptops with G and a PS3). It got a glowing review on tomshardware.com. It tops their router charts in transfer, with G+N and Gigabit ethernet.
 

Chris Freeland

SatelliteGuys Pro
Sep 8, 2003
615
0
Collegedale, TN
N gives more range so if you have a palace then it would help specialy if there are alot of dead spots and your current router is placed wisely. If your an average Joe then stick with the G and see if you can find some of the 8 inch antenna's as Im asuming that the ones that are on your cards now are probably the 3 inch ones wich are seriously underpowered for the task.

Some of the N routers are compatible with G and some arent, some companies arent compatible with others such as Linksys and Netgear wich I had problems with and had to get a netgear card when I didnt want to.

I just did your suggestion today and went to RS and purchased 8" antenna's for just under $10, at the moment it seams to have taken care of the problem, we will see long term before I invest more $ on a new router. :)
 

Mr_Movie_Dog

Well-Known SatelliteGuys Member
Sep 2, 2007
27
0
The Antenna will help but N is the way to go you'll have fewer issues in noisy areas and most draft N's are backward compatible, I have yet to see one that isn't. I used a higher gain antenna but it was not enough to gain a solid connection in one of my rooms but the N works great, even if I use the G protocol which I did initially before upgrading my router. When I bought a new notebook draft N was a requirement.
 

Chris Freeland

SatelliteGuys Pro
Sep 8, 2003
615
0
Collegedale, TN
The Antenna will help but N is the way to go you'll have fewer issues in noisy areas and most draft N's are backward compatible, I have yet to see one that isn't. I used a higher gain antenna but it was not enough to gain a solid connection in one of my rooms but the N works great, even if I use the G protocol which I did initially before upgrading my router. When I bought a new notebook draft N was a requirement.

Yes I may still upgrade my router, today I am back to having dropouts and having to re-boot my router frequintly, I currently have a Lynskys router and Comcast internet.
 

ussexplroer

SatelliteGuys Pro
Feb 17, 2007
272
4
Well I was going to add my 2 cents but you already cover most of it

I work on computers all the time and was going to add my 2 cents in. But looks like you guys got it covered.

Place the router in a good place.
Better antennas.
Warned about some equiptment not working with others.
etc, etc, etc.

I was going to start of chart of prefered Access points and Wireless cards but they change so much between company and models I said F-it. LOL

Later,

Josh
 

Sean Mota

SatelliteGuys Master
Supporting Founder
Sep 8, 2003
19,039
1,739
New York City
I have a few dead spots as well. I have the G-wireless router and the big booster antenna and it has not helped. Bought the wireless extender from linksys but it was a pain to install and returned it. Now I am thinking about getting the N as well.
 

Chris Freeland

SatelliteGuys Pro
Sep 8, 2003
615
0
Collegedale, TN
New 'N' Router

Chris

did you end up ugrading? how did it go?

Pay day was Friday, so I went to CC today and purchased a new Buffalo Nfiniti Air Station 'N' router, it is backward compatible with both 'G' and 'b'. It cost $79, I have never heard of this brand before, however I took a chance because it was $20 less then Netgear or Linksys cheapest 'N' routers. So far it is working flawlessly, however I did have one little problem setting it up and tried to call tech support, was on the phone and on the automated hold for about 30 minutes when my cell phone dropped the call without ever getting a live person on the other end, I fumbled around on my own and then got it working. I hope if I need tech support in the future it is better then this, but so far it is working great. I have a Win Xp desktop connected by Cat 5 and a MacBook using wireless with a built in 'G'.
 

bryansr

SatelliteGuys Pro
Jan 21, 2005
272
0
S. D. co. CA.
Pay day was Friday, so I went to CC today and purchased a new Buffalo Nfiniti Air Station 'N' router, it is backward compatible with both 'G' and 'b'. It cost $79, I have never heard of this brand before, however I took a chance because it was $20 less then Netgear or Linksys cheapest 'N' routers. So far it is working flawlessly, however I did have one little problem setting it up and tried to call tech support, was on the phone and on the automated hold for about 30 minutes when my cell phone dropped the call without ever getting a live person on the other end, I fumbled around on my own and then got it working. I hope if I need tech support in the future it is better then this, but so far it is working great. I have a Win Xp desktop connected by Cat 5 and a MacBook using wireless with a built in 'G'.

I have used the Buffalo Brand routers for a while now and find them easy to set up and they run without glitches for the most part, (unlike the Dlinks & Linksys routers I have replaced them with) .
 

Sean Mota

SatelliteGuys Master
Supporting Founder
Sep 8, 2003
19,039
1,739
New York City
I went and got a N150 router. Found out that the range was not as great as advertized. I have a G wireless router with booster antennas and the N covered the same range as that one. It was not any better. I am taking it back to the store tomorrow.
 

John W

SatelliteGuys Pro
Supporting Founder
Sep 8, 2003
997
3
Planet Earth
I have a linksys wrt350n setup as the gateway and a wrt54gs with some mods to it to handle the Gand B.

I added my old wrt54gs back into the system because my N router was having dropouts on the G equipment.

It all works very well now.
 

charper1

Bourbon Tester
Supporting Founder
May 18, 2004
18,442
6
I'm Nationwide
I went and got a N150 router. Found out that the range was not as great as advertized. I have a G wireless router with booster antennas and the N covered the same range as that one. It was not any better. I am taking it back to the store tomorrow.


Same experience here.. My bottom line: until "N" is an adopted & recognized standard; NOT just DRAFT, it is not worth the upgrade; stick with "G" and a better antenna and a centralized mount location, until the finalized "N" 2nd generations.
 

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