Networking & wireless forum: What's the latest in wireless router technology?

Most of us know that broadband is not used in the way it was originally intended. Thanks to Verizon (DSL) and Fios and Comcast that still put everything on one bandwidth the same way a the old dial-up. I thought with broadband more info could be carry on the sub bands like phone, TV and INTERNET. Sometimes, depending on the time of day or night my INTERNET's speed is slower as it was on dial-up (still fast but I can tell the difference). As for the routers I agree with u all the way.

I have a fast Internet connection with Verizon FiOS. I WISH I could afford their new 150/35 mbps service but I'm stuck with 35/35 for now (the first figure is download, the second is upload, and the throughput speed is not load-dependent -- it is extremely stable, never varying more than a couple of percentage points in real-world testing, and indeed it frequently EXCEEDS the published speed). If everything you do is based around web surfing and reading email, or just downloading files from Internet sources, the speed of your Internet connection under most circumstances will make a much greater difference to your perceived experience than the connection speed through your wireless router, unless you're nearing the edge of its range.

But that's not what the upgrade to 802.11n is chiefly about, nor is it the biggest difference between 802.11g and 802.11n. The greatest difference you will notice with the 802.11n device is the reliability and usability of your connection over a broader range and under more adverse conditions (which makes a huge difference in the speed apparent to a user in a far-away room). The increase from one to four MIMO streams is partly responsible for the increased stability of your connections, as is the increased range.

But the primary speed difference revolves around data transfers between devices WITHIN your network. An 802.11n router will allow you to use data stored on other computers almost as seamlessly as you use data on your own hard drive. It allows for such devices as network storage actually to be useful and efficient over a wireless connection. It also allows the increasingly popular wireless network connectivity and interconnectivity of entertainment devices like video games, TVs and Blu-Ray players, something I would not suggest even trying with an 802.11g router.

It is my opinion that "OntheCoast's" advice here is very ill-conceived and I disagree with it 100% unless you're satisfied with dial-up speeds, which I don't think most people are anymore. 802.11n routers are superior even if your devices only have 802.11b or g interface cards, because the connection will remain stable over a greater distance and under more various circumstances.

Hi Ronald,

It is always worth going for the latest technology and that is Wireless N. but do not worry it is fully backwards compatible so your B and G Dwvices will work just fine.
Why take this route? N will give you a much greater range of signal so this should solve you connectivity and speed issues.
As far as cost is concerned, I have purchased the Belkin N+ combined modem and router, it is cheap to buy and will give you excellent performance and is simple to set up.
It also has most of the key features you would need as what I would term, a non power user and the combination of combined modem and router minimises the single points of failure.
You will of course get differing opinions based on personal preferences so in the end it will be your choice but as I said earlier, go for N but keep it simple

Regards

Alex McInnes

Just a little background. "802.11" refers to a set of standards for wireless devices and data promulgated by the IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, specifically their LAN/MAN Standards Committee (IEEE 802). These standards have been updated as technology has advanced over the years.

First, in 1997, came 802.11 without any letter; it permitted a maximum throughput of 2 Mbps (megabits per second -- NOT megabytes; there are eight bits to a byte) and a range of a little over 300 feet.

802.11a, which came out in 1999, is quite different from the others in fundamental ways and is intended for larger installations than are generally needed in the home. It uses either the 3.7 Ghz or the 5 Ghz band and has a range up to nearly a mile (for the 3.7 Ghz) at a maximum throughput of 54 Mbps with error correction that makes its real throughput about 20 Mbps. These devices need to be licensed by the FCC.

The devices that first became popular for home use (and you still see them sometimes) used the 802.11b standard, also released in 1999 concurrent with 802.11a. It uses the 2.4 GHz band and which allowed throughput up to about 11 Mbps (megabits -- NOT megabytes; there are eight bits to a byte -- per second) and increased the range to about 460 feet.

The next standard, which came out officially in 2003 and is still in common usage, was 802.11g, which also used the 2.4 Ghz range at a speed that maxed out at 54 Mbps and nominally the same maximum range as the 802.11b devices (460 ft.). In practice, however, the 802.11g installations cover a wider area with usable connectivity.

All of the above utilize a bandwidth of 20 Mhz and allow 1 MIMO stream ("Multiple In/Multiple Out")

The newer 802.11n devices represent a significant improvement in usability and in the reliability of the connection. The 802.11n standard was officially promulgated in 2009 but routers claiming to meet a "Draft n Standard" have been around since 2006 or so. They operate in either the 2.5 Ghz or 5 Ghz band (many now do both simultaneously) and allow throughput speeds of 150 Mbps and a range of about 820 ft. Their bandwidth is increased to 40 MHz and they allow FOUR simultaneous MIMO streams, greatly increasing throughput and making the wireless connections much more stable. Indeed, it is the MIMO thing that is the chief factor that distinguishes the 802.11n standard from its predecessors.

The next expected IEEE 802.11 standard for home devices is expected to be called "802.11ac" and will operate in the 6 GHz band, possibly with a bandwidth as high as 160 MHz. I have no details about expected throughput speed or range but the speed is expected to be possibly as much as ten times that of 802.11n (the range may not increase at all -- but who knows?). I also have no idea when any devices meeting this standard may become commercially available. The IEEE is aiming at a release date for the 802.11ac standard in December, 2012, but these tend to slip, sometimes significantly.

In order to take advantage the 802.11n improvements you need both a router and a network card using the 802.11 standard. The new routers are now remarkably easy to set up -- they employ "wizards" that guide you through it step-by-step and that are easy enough for even the most inexperienced beginner to use. And some network cards plug right into your USB port; all you need to do AT MOST is to load the driver software, which is as easy as dropping a CD into your CD drive. Sometimes you don't even need to do that because a usable driver will already be present on your computer and you'll just have to wait for the "Found New Hardware" message to disappear.

Do be sure to use WPA encryption, though. Almost any semi-competent hacker can break into a network protected by WEP. Just make good and sure you write down your network key EXACTLY. And make sure you change your router's admin password.

There are NO drawbacks other than that you've got to buy and install the devices. There are, however, HUGE advantages in speed and reliability in going to the 802.11n devices. If you've grown accustomed to older equipment you will be astonished how well everything works with the new stuff.

As far as I know, all new wireless routers also operate as wired gigabit switches, ten times faster than the older 100-base-T connections. This allows you pretty much to mount the disk drives in all your wired home computers with throughput similar to the internal drives in whichever one you're using.

I have had very, VERY good luck with D-Link. I have used a D-Link DIR-655 since 2007 and it has been rock solid, but as far as I can tell they're all good. I never even need to reboot the thing! These are still available in stores, by the way, but there's some better stuff out now, with "dual band" and all.

(There were advantages to getting an "N" router back when the standards were in draft. With D-Link's "Extreme" matching network interface card I get throughput up to 300 mbps -- faster than the finalized standard allows.)

I learned more from your post in 10 minutes of reading and digestion than from any source I've found.
Thank your for explaining in such and understandable and detailed way.

Those are MAXIMUM distances (I tried to make that clear but I guess I was unsuccessful), outdoors over totally flat terrain and a clear line-of-sight, with no obstructions (walls, rugs, furniture, draperies, etc.) between the transmitter (router) and receiver (wireless network card in your laptop). Those figures are not meant to indicate how far the signal will actually travel inside any structure but are only used as a basis for comparison between similar devices. In literally ALL cases, the real distance over which a wireless network will actually be usable is less, in fact MUCH less, than the maximum figure.

Every installation is different and the real usable range will depend on so many unpredictable factors that the only real way to test it is "in combat," so to speak. Every intervening wall or other object will decrease the signal to some extent, but the amount of decrease will be less if the signal passes straight through the object at an angle approaching 90 degrees to its plane than if it passes through the obstruction at a steeper angle. Of course, multiple intervening walls and floors will decrease the signal strength at the receiving end (the laptop or whatever) even more, as will such obstructions as furniture, countertops, etc.

Also, the material from which the obstructions are made will affect the amount of weakening you will find. Less dense non-conductive material will be easier for the signal to pass through than denser, metallic materials. Some materials, like the foil that surrounds some types of insulation, will almost perfectly shield the signal -- it will be stopped at that point.

Lastly there is the issue of interpath interference, where the signal reflects off some surfaces and both the direct and reflected signals are read at the receiving end. This can cause the strength of the signal to be increased in some cases or entirely eliminated, and moving the receiver (the wireless network card) even a few inches can have a dramatic effect on signal strength in some instances.

The distances for different types of signal are always expressed by the ideal-conditions maximums because there really isn't any other workable way to compare different devices against one another. It is not intended to reflect the actual distance a signal might be received in your own home, because there is no possible way the publisher of such data could know something like that.

A properly (meaning roughly centrally) located 802.11n router should cover most of a moderate-to-large size single-family home. Larger buildings may need some kind of signal repeater (like another router, f'rinstance), and may need to have some extra attention paid to the location of the transmitting devices to achieve maximum usability.

I've installed a lot of networks in my day. It sometimes takes quite a bit longer to test out the real-world usability of the networks, and position the router(s), properly than it takes to install and configure the routers themselves.

What do you base this recommendation on, please.

First let me start by saying that 7 years is a long time to be running the same router and if your modem is anywhere near that old I would probably recommend replacing both at the same time. I would recommend replacing the modem and router about every 3 years.

A chip and the good wireless is from Huawei.You will find what you want,cheers!More stuff at the adress,this guys is winners!

http://www.huawei.com

I recently purchased a Linksys (Cisco) E2000 Wireless Router. My wife's desktop is two rooms away, through two walls and a fireplace. Signal is useable, but not great. As far as I can determine, Linksys doesn't have a signal relay unit like the one I used before to amplify the signal to improve performance on her computer. Can I and how can I add a second wireless Router (set in AP mode) to improve her signal?

We have recently laid tyo rest our Linksys Broadband router purchased a number of years ago.
When trouble shooting to find reasons to lose our secure internet connection to a wireless laptop, our cable suppllier suggested we hook up with a unit supplied by them, for ~ $4.00 / month?
It is a combo router and modem. So far we are satisfied.

Speed is quite evident.

Bob

Hi Ronald,

Here's a review I posted on Amazon about the Airport Extreme Base Station in 2009. Since then, our business has moved out of the house and into a new office space, and we just added 4 new employees last October. For our office, I bought another Apple Airport Extreme Base Station! I also bought a new 27" iMac. I'm not necessarily an Apple "fanboy", as I also like Windows 7 and Office 2010 (but not 2011, until they fix the bugs).

Anyhow, I hope this helps!

=============================

I work with my wife and we own our own business (actually, she's the sole owner). We have about 5 employees and 24 consulting instructors. We provide consulting services in portfolio / project management, program management, and systems engineering, as well as training in all of the above as well. Our clients include Northrop Grumman, Joint Forces Command, the USCG, and many more. As a result, we rely heavily on our computers and our network.

My office is currently downstairs near the router, and hers is upstairs (our building is 4600 sq ft). We needed more range, so after researching what I thought was the best router, I bought a new D-Link Wireless N Gigabit Router DIR-655 - Wireless router + 4-port switch - EN, Fast EN, Gigabit EN, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n (draft), and Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain USB Wireless 300N Range Extender (White). Still didn't have great coverage, so I tried even replacing one of the 3 antennas on the back of the DLINK DIR 655 with the D-Link ANT24-0700 2.4 GHz Omni-Directional 7 dBi Indoor Antenna after a recommendation by an employee of the now defunct "Circuit City" store.

Still didn't help. And to top it off, every time I lost power, the Hawking and the DIR655 wouldn't work together. Hawking tech support in India (nice people, by the way) told me it was because they got stuck on different IP addresses. So the last guy I spoke with set them both to be on a static IP address together, which, while that worked, it seemed to slow my network speed, although I never verified that. I spent MANY HOURS solving connectivity problems between the Hawking and the DIR 655. And it even got to the point where, when using my iPhone 3GS in the house, I would skip the Hawking network connection when I had a choice between that and directly connecting to the DIR 655 because the Hawking always seemed to slow or fail with my connection.

Anyhow, after seeing an article about Apple Time Capsule MB765LL/A 1TB, I decided that since I'm running a Windows machine I couldn't use the features of that (Time Machine), but I could try Apple's Apple MB763LL/A AirPort Extreme Dual-band Base Station because it had multiple advantages over the DIR655, such as having a "Guest Network" where we could allow our guests (sometimes employees) to use our network when visiting but not have access to our systems. It also has a USB port to plug in a hard drive, and we could share that for easy large file transfer, etc. And, I could easily extend the network by adding an Apple AirPort Express with Air Tunes (M9470LL/A) - all one has to do is when setting it up, check a box that says "Extend my network". IMAGINE THAT! DESIGNED TO WORK TOGETHER! No more IP address conflicts! WOW! I have been amazed ever since how easy my network has become! And, I'm getting much better range. And if you have a need to extend the network in a different direction, you can simply add another Airport Express.

The odd thing is, neither employees of Best Buy, Circuit City, etc., ever recommended considering an Apple solution. I wish they had.

So, what has all of this done for me? Well, for one, I love my iPhone 3GS, and now I also love my Airport Extreme Base Station / Airport Express combination, so much so, that I decided to switch my PC to an Apple MacBook Pro! About 6 days ago, I ordered a Apple 17 MacBook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8GHz, 4GBRAM, 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive, NVIDIA GeForce". And, it will be here today! What about my customers that use MS Office products? Well, my new MacBook Pro comes with Office 2008 for Mac, and, it also comes with Windows Vista Ultimate so I can still run the same software as before.

Couldn't arrive at a better time too. Yesterday morning, my HP Pavilion DV6675US 15.4-inch Entertainment Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7250, 4 GB RAM, 250 Hard Drive, Vista Ultimate)laptop had a Blue Screen of Death......

So, bottom line - if you're needing more network range, and haven't invested too much in your current setup, I would highly suggest you consider the Airport Extreme / Airport Express combination instead. So much easier to set up, doesn't fail, better range, and for me, you save yourself a lot of time. And when you're in your own business, as the old saying goes, time is money.

If you are 61 you might still remember your grade school math classes when they talked about 'Lowest Common Denominator'(LCD). Your new router must be able to work with all your current hardware or you will wind up buying more than you bargain for. So if you have an old laptop that is an 802.1b your new router must be able to fall back to 802.11b and as others have said that will wind up being the top speed on your network.

Is the new device better? Maybe, I have an old Zytel router and a new SMC router, the old one has much better signal strength than the SMC so it depends on what you mean by better. In my case I didn't want more signal strength, I didn't need it and there is no sense covering a wider area than I need even with security turned on.

Which brings me to security, I am willing to bet you have it all turned off and still use the default passwords on your old router. You need to turn on the security that is on your new router and change the password. Again its an LCD thing, you can only use the best security that your current equipment can run, if you have a computer that can only run WEP than that's the best you can do. I know others here have recommended against WEP but if you have a computer that can only do WEP that's what you will have to use.

Ron, as I was deciding how to answer you I stopped dead on "I'm not getting a good signal with my current..." There's nothing more frustrating than surfing happily and getting fully engrossed in some game, business correspondence, or article and losing the signal suddenly. Wireless-N is the newest certified standard, and I've never seen any newer routers sold in "draft" form as N was for so many years. N is a big improvement, but I still had problems until I bought a "Dual Band" router. I live two floors under a large set of cell phone antennas on my building, and I never lose the signal inside anymore. Going outdoors my signal is almost as good.

"Dual Band" is more expensive, but coming down some. There are also fake dual-band routers to watch out for. You should check that the router has a 5GHz AND 2.4GHz output to get the full benefits of the new standards.

You'll need to buy new dual-band cards and adapters if you're having connection problems, but you'll still be able to use your old b/g equipment on all the new N routers I've seen, or use normal N equipment, too.

If you have any b only equipment you should check more carefully. Some N routers don't supply that standard anymore (like my D-Link DIR-825, but I don't miss it). If you use your b/g equipment you won't gain the benefits, but you'll have a router ready for the future for a long time.

Finally, two other features to consider are Gigabit capability and a Guest feature. Gigabit applies to the wired transmission rate and might also be designated by the numbers 10/100/1000 or something similar ending in /1000 somewhere in the specifications. Since you mentioned other wireless "connections" in plural you might have a home network now or in the future. The transfer rate improvements are noticeable.

If you have friends stopping by that are internet lovers, the 'guest' feature can be turned on and still give your permanent computers isolation. If your in an urban setting hackers could be lurking in the shadows. You're can feel safe as your friends enjoy the diverse, enormous benefits of internet.

What I'm saying is your router could (esp. if older model) be slower than your ISP connection.
Pretty embarassing once you think about it.

Although the D-Link I'm using now is great, my neighbor recently bought a Linksys, and her range is probably double mine. To be fair my D-Link is a version one, while hers was made yesterday (figuratively).

Concerning other manufacturers, I've had experience with Airlink, Belkin, Trendnet, and Zonet off the top of my head, and never had a bad experience. I've also bought several laptop PCMCIA cards from no-name manufacturers at ebay and had great experiences.

I've to come to the personal conclusion that the bad experiences being described in the forums are always flukes.

Also, the dual band router when used in conjunction with with a dual-band card will be running two transmissions of different types at once, so if one has interference the other will hold the connection. In my router's case the 5GHz is running a combination of a and n, and my 2.4GHZ is running n only since I don't have any g equipment, but there other options on both.

As for older equipment on a network slowing down the whole, I thought that problem was always a matter of internet speeds from providers way back when, but I'm not an electrical engineer or knowledgeable in that area. I know if the router setting for wireless is to a combination and someone runs the older of the two the router won't revert. I don't think a wired network would suffer from a slower adapter either, at least not any more when a simple unmanaged switch can determine the speed your node is running. I know for sure if someone on the network requires the old WEP security settings settings that the entire wireless network will be weaker.

Hope that helps.