Wireless G vs N: Wut?

Darth Nathan

So I'm moving from a small single-story place to a rather large 2 story house. I've currently got a wireless G network, but I'm not sure if it will cover the extent of the new place. Ze Googles have informed me that wireless N has better range and better speed, which is always nice. But I'm still a little hazy as to whether I really need to upgrade.

Basically, my question is, given a required broadcast range of about 60 ft through a few walls and a floor, will the G network be sufficient? Even if it is, what would the benefits be of changing it to an N network?

Daedalus

802.11n is not yet finalized and products claiming to support it are only working from the current draft of the standard, which may not be compatible with the final draft.

MarvellousM

Maybe just get a repeater? Probably a cheaper option for boosting your signal.

tsmvengy

MarvellousM wrote: »

Maybe just get a repeater? Probably a cheaper option for boosting your signal.

Yes get a cheap router that can run dd-wrt and use it as a repeater.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320026

That one will. I have the 520gu and it works great, so I assume this one will too.

JerikTelorian

Darth Nathan wrote: »

So I'm moving from a small single-story place to a rather large 2 story house. I've currently got a wireless G network, but I'm not sure if it will cover the extent of the new place. Ze Googles have informed me that wireless N has better range and better speed, which is always nice. But I'm still a little hazy as to whether I really need to upgrade.

Basically, my question is, given a required broadcast range of about 60 ft through a few walls and a floor, will the G network be sufficient? Even if it is, what would the benefits be of changing it to an N network?

I'm currently running a G-Band and it's frankly fine for most purposes. If you put the Router in an even reasonably central location, you should have access in the house and on your porches. I'm in two story house (though a kinda small rowhome) but we have no problems with connectivity.

One big thing to remember is that a lot of the new bands increase speed -- I think G is 54mb, which equates to 6.75MB of data transfer. As your inbound connection is probably closer to 3-5MB max, there's really no need for such a big transfer bandwidth unless you are streaming massive files within the house.

travathian

It also depends on what the house is made of. Standard wood framing, no problem. Old time brick, built like a freakin bomb shelter, then you might have some problems using it in the backyard, but inside the house should still be fine. 60 feet? Pffft, no problem. I wouldn't bother with a repeater. Find a central location to drop the router. Then test it around the house, backyard, front yard, etc. If there is a dead spot somewhere critical, try adjusting the height/location/angle of the router.

If you want to see how effective G-routers are, go park in front of your new house with a laptop, see how many of your neighbors networks you can pick up from out there.

Krikee

If you install a repeater don't freak out if you notice your bandwidth dropped. Your bandwidth will be cut in half as every packet gets repeated once. As JerikTelorian said, the available bandwidth on a G network is usually not the limiting factor.

GrimReaper

I both love and hate 802.11n and wireless in general. For example, I bought a new router (a while ago now) because my old one didn't support the newer ADSL2+ stuff. I went for a router that supported 802.11n but I had some issues with my Macbook Pro iirc. (I thought it was my iphone.. memory is hazy)

Same kind of experience with work too, as a temporary measure when we ran out of network points I set up a 802.11n bridge to allow people with 802.11n wifi cards to connect in to the network. But some cards simply wouldn't connect, it was bizarre. Seems to me manufacturers all have their own ideas when it comes to 802.11n compatibility. It really needs to be finalised.

Long story short I now use 802.11g at home, even though the router is capable of 802.11n.

Darth Nathan

Thanks for the info guys. It's a standard wood frame place, and from what you've said, the G network will probably reach around the place. If I still have issues, I'll use a repeater.

Recoil42

Daedalus wrote: »

802.11n is not yet finalized and products claiming to support it are only working from the current draft of the standard, which may not be compatible with the final draft.

Actually, no. The 'draft' status of wireless N is pretty much merely a formality, at this point. It's just been bureaucracy holding it back. Draft-N stuff will be compatible with the final spec, for all intents and purposes. The manufacturers themselves have all but guaranteed this. Especially because, remember, because they've released so many draft-n products already, and have been pushing it for over a year commercially, they have a vested interest in the final spec being as close to 1:1 with the draft as possible.

But also because, at this scale of spec, all that was left -- even a year ago -- was making sure that all the i's were dotted and t's were crossed. There's just a hell of a lot of i's and t's to worry about, but the spec will read the same.

If there's one thing you have to worry about in G vs. N, this is not it. All the hardware will work, even if some minor firmware updates have to be released to make sure everything is all nice, shiny, and friendly-like.

LoneIgadzra

I kind of wish my router was N. Network transfer times for large files are terrible on G, and this is something I have to do somewhat frequently.

But G is waaaayyyyy more than enough for the internet.

Henroid

Recoil42 wrote: »

Daedalus wrote: »

802.11n is not yet finalized and products claiming to support it are only working from the current draft of the standard, which may not be compatible with the final draft.

Actually, no. The 'draft' status of wireless N is pretty much merely a formality, at this point. It's just been bureaucracy holding it back. Draft-N stuff will be compatible with the final spec, for all intents and purposes. The manufacturers themselves have all but guaranteed this. Especially because, remember, because they've released so many draft-n products already, and have been pushing it for over a year commercially, they have a vested interest in the final spec being as close to 1:1 with the draft as possible.

But also because, at this scale of spec, all that was left -- even a year ago -- was making sure that all the i's were dotted and t's were crossed. There's just a hell of a lot of i's and t's to worry about, but the spec will read the same.

If there's one thing you have to worry about in G vs. N, this is not it. All the hardware will work, even if some minor firmware updates have to be released to make sure everything is all nice, shiny, and friendly-like.

So basically, who has to worry about it actually being compatible isn't necessarily Linksys / Netgear / etc, but the ones developing the 802.11n tech?

Who does that anyway, I've not turned an eye toward network stuff in several years.

nlawalker

Henroid wrote: »

Recoil42 wrote: »

Daedalus wrote: »

802.11n is not yet finalized and products claiming to support it are only working from the current draft of the standard, which may not be compatible with the final draft.

Actually, no. The 'draft' status of wireless N is pretty much merely a formality, at this point. It's just been bureaucracy holding it back. Draft-N stuff will be compatible with the final spec, for all intents and purposes. The manufacturers themselves have all but guaranteed this. Especially because, remember, because they've released so many draft-n products already, and have been pushing it for over a year commercially, they have a vested interest in the final spec being as close to 1:1 with the draft as possible.

But also because, at this scale of spec, all that was left -- even a year ago -- was making sure that all the i's were dotted and t's were crossed. There's just a hell of a lot of i's and t's to worry about, but the spec will read the same.

If there's one thing you have to worry about in G vs. N, this is not it. All the hardware will work, even if some minor firmware updates have to be released to make sure everything is all nice, shiny, and friendly-like.

So basically, who has to worry about it actually being compatible isn't necessarily Linksys / Netgear / etc, but the ones developing the 802.11n tech?

Who does that anyway, I've not turned an eye toward network stuff in several years.

There is a "working group" of engineers within the IEEE that oversees all this stuff. Kind of like the W3C is to the web.

They aren't necessarily "worried" about it being compatible - they just want to see a great standard implemented. I'm sure, though, that they do take into account that "draft N" stuff has been available for quite a while and that the spec has not changed substantially.

And yes, the draft status is essentially a formality. Last I heard, it actually is complete, and literally all we're waiting for is for all the right people to get in the right place and ratify it. It will happen by January.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Dark Shroud

Draft1 was a PIA trying to get different brands working with each other. Draft2 hasn't been so bad. I set up a wireless N network for my sister using Trendnet products. The router has the same internals as a D-Link that sells for almost 3 times as much.

Right now my routers of choice are the new Linksys routers, specificly the WRT320. Like the WRT 310 it has Gigabyte Ethernet, where the 320 is also a dual-band. For those that do not need/care about Gigabyte lan there are the WRT 110/120 for the low end of Wireless N and then there is the WRT 160 & 160NL. If you want everything the WRT610N is the way to go.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2050410145%2050001413&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=PRICE

Hamurabi

This seems the most appropriate thread to ask in: anyone know how to reset the username and password on a router once someone's set it? My idiot brother set some default one when he set up our new router under Vista or something, and how no matter how I format the username, I can't get access to the router at 192.168.1.1.

EDIT: Never mind -- I guess NetGear devices' default username/password is 'admin' and 'password,' respectively. In retrospect, I really should've Googled the problem and then pleaded for Internet Help. :P

travathian

Go to the manufacturer's website, the user guide should list how to set it to factory defaults.

Corvus

Hamurabi wrote: »

This seems the most appropriate thread to ask in: anyone know how to reset the username and password on a router once someone's set it? My idiot brother set some default one when he set up our new router under Vista or something, and how no matter how I format the username, I can't get access to the router at 192.168.1.1.

EDIT: Never mind -- I guess NetGear devices' default username/password is 'admin' and 'password,' respectively. In retrospect, I really should've Googled the problem and then pleaded for Internet Help. :P

There is, at least on my Linksys router, a little button you have to stick a pen in and hold down that resets the router to the factory defaults.

japan

I thought 802.11n was finalised. Admittedly only a couple of months ago, but still.

Recoil42

japan wrote: »

I thought 802.11n was finalised. Admittedly only a couple of months ago, but still.

Note that this thread dates back to September.

AlissonMurphy wrote: »

This is exactly what i was looking for. thank you for the informative post and keep up the good work!

You. Don't resurrect old threads. It's a faux pas on here. Unless you have something valuable to add, it's best just to not do it.