Wireless N - Worth it?

Question

I have a laptop with a wireless N card, but I only have a wireless G router. Is it worth it to upgrade to a wireless N router? I use the laptop primarily at home where I have DSL 6 mbps. Will buying the new router increase my connection speed on my laptop?

Answer 1

The short answer is "no". Even 802.11b gives you sufficient speed for a 6 Mb connection.

There would be exceptions, of course. At the outside range of a router, your connection speed is reduced before it is lost entirely. Because it has greater range and higher speed, 802.11n would greatly increase the range at which you could use your router...but my G router covers a half-acre yard at better than 20 Mb, so it's unlikely that you would *need* N at home.

Also, if you have a home network where you transfer files between computers or network appliances, the speed of N makes a difference in transfer speeds.

Answer 2

A wireless G router costs $60 and the fastest Pre-N the D-Link DIR-655 is only $90.  Is a Pre-N faster?-absolutely.  Will you have a faster connection? -yes.  The Pre-N routers are generally 7-14X faster depending on your Pre-N router. The D-Link DIR-655 being at up to the 14X range.  It also maintains faster average speed and doesn't drop out because  QoS and MIMO technology it developed before the other router manufacturers.  It is faster and you will notice it.

Do me a favor.  Try a using a hard wire cable (Ethernet cable from your router to your computer).  Check out that speed while websurfing.  That s the fastest speed you can get. There is no wireless connection  that will go that fast as that wired connection.  

Since you your computer can already handle Pre-N, I would do it providing no other device on your network Computers, PDA, Blackberry, ect are at G.   Your betwork will only run as the slowest device- so if any other device is at G or slower, your router will step down and transmit at the slower speed an you will never see the faster Pre-N speed unless all those devices are turned off or not on the network running.  You will also find better range  

I hope that helps.

Answer 3

No,

wireless N and G are just different broadcast bands. getting a new router will not increase your speed because your router probably does broadcast 6mbps or more. you can go to speedtest.net and test your speed from your laptop, if you get less than between 5 and 6 down then you are fine. if you get a lot less than 5 contact your ISP to see if there are any errors in the line and if not then check your hardware. i use the router verizon gave me and it works fine with my laptop. do not wore about the different bands, its all the same.

Answer 4

The big advantage of N over G is that the coverage is much better.  If you like to roam the house with your laptop and you have deadspots, the N is a better solution.

N is faster than G, but only when you are using an N adapter with an N router.  The entire network will only run at the speed of its slowest adapter.

The speed issue is really moot, since most residential internet connections are rated at 10Mbps anyway, which is 10x slower than the G spec.