wireless network - 802.11 N in mixed mode question

ChristopheB

Hi, I am thinking of upgrading my current wireless network to 802.11 N from G. The reason being because I get a flaky connection from the other side of the house and could do with the extra range. In the house we have 2 laptops a netbook and a desktop all currently with G.

I was wondering if I upgrade my desktop to N will I get that speed on my desktop when running in mixed mode i.e. with the laptops connected as G or will the router throttle all traffic including my desktop to G? If this was the case would I still get the additional range benefit of N?

I was thinking of getting a Tenda Router don't really know the brand but it's cheap any thoughts. I run Virgin media cable so guess this would be suitable and the user reviews seem ok.

Any thoughts?

JasX

I suppose in theory if you had a 'dual band' router and your N PC was capable of operating at 5Ghz (probably not with a tenda) you could run a 5Ghz network for N only and have the 2.4-2.6 whatever range one at G or G/N slower speeds...

otherwise i'm pretty sure you'll suffer the same B/G speed reduction when you share G/N devices on one network

tho if its just the range thats the issue i'd be tempted to knock up one of those 'windsurfer' card/foil antennas and see if that solves the problem, they cost nothing and do actually work (tho look a tad silly)

ChristopheB

Thanks for the quick reply. I think dual band is going to cost me more than I wanted. Plus I keep reading the range for 5Gz is worse than 2.4Gz.

But I think I am approaching this from the wrong angle. As you said get a bigger antenna. Definitely the money saving approach too. I have googled the windsurfer design and will give it a go.

Ta

savemoney

I emailed Draytek about this as I got a Draytek router most of the hardware I have is wireless n accept laptop and wii. They told me "If you run 11n and 11g at the same time, the performance will be a little down, but it still be better than 11g."

I haven't noticed any slow speed when laptop is on as I use wireless all time with vnc to get on my server in garage. I get 260+-Mbps on server

roadster1

When my old router {G} died i replaced it with a Netgear N Router. I found no increased range and poor speed on my laptop with an N dongle. I moved the router to a sensible position ie out of the cellar and now get super fast speeds on the laptop. I notice no difference when the phone (G) is connected but i haven't tried downloading anything or streaming while the phone is connected.

Position of the router seems to be critical..............