SillyDog701 • Router differences?

by **James** » Mon 20 Nov, 2006 1:04 pm

Does someone here know the difference between a B, G, N wireless router? Netgear is the brand but I doubt that means anything. Thanks.

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by **PaulD** » Mon 20 Nov, 2006 1:35 pm

There was a [sdt=12363]similar question[/sdt] recently. One [sdp=79383]reply[/sdp] references a source of general information on wireless technology.

Edited to correct a reference.

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by **James** » Mon 20 Nov, 2006 1:43 pm

Thanks but that really doesn't answer my question as far as I can tell. It "seems" to me that the B type wireless router is older technology, the G provides faster access and the N gives greater coverage as well as an increase in speed. Can you confirm this?

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by **PaulD** » Mon 20 Nov, 2006 2:18 pm

You are correct that the referenced item does not mention 802.11n.

A Google search for [ 802.11n ] brings up almost 3 million hits. Check the first few for details. Yes, N is faster and has more range. But note that N is still in the 'draft' stage, and conceivably could change before final adoption.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11:

802.11b was the first widely accepted wireless networking standard, followed (somewhat counterintuitively) by 802.11a and 802.11g.

"Super-G" also is available.

Some product advertisements properly refer to these devices as "Draft-N"; others omit this careful detail. One conservative cautionary comment: Not infrequently the devices that initially implement new technology eventually demonstrate incompatabilities or problems. Unless you have a compelling requiremnt for this capability I would suggest waiting a bit for product experience and maturity.

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by **Antony** » Mon 20 Nov, 2006 8:48 pm

James wrote:Does someone here know the difference between a B, G, N wireless router? Netgear is the brand but I doubt that means anything. Thanks.

PaulD has answered well, and I just provide some additional number.

802.11b
data rate: 11 Mbit/sec
range: 45 metre (from base station)
operates on 2.4 GHz
also known as: AirPort

802.11g
data rate: 54 Mbit/sec
range: 15 metre (from base station)
(Or if use 11 Mbit/sec data rate, the distance is 45 metre)
operates on 2.4 GHz
also known as: AirPort Extreme

802.11n
Currently in draft stage.
data rate: 540 Mbit/sec (that's faster than Fast Ethernet (100 Mbit/s))
range: about the same as 802.11g
operates on 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz

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by **James** » Tue 21 Nov, 2006 12:11 am

Thanks guys.

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by **jwnoodle** » Tue 28 Nov, 2006 4:19 pm

i am currently running the rather new Linksys router with N capabilites ($135 from best buy), but my laptop can only support G. So to their point, it is better to wait, or go spend over $100 for an external wireless N card...

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by **Don_HH2K** » Tue 28 Nov, 2006 4:33 pm

To the best of my knowledge, the 802.11n specification is still a draft; it's just been implemented by manufacturers as "Pre-N" or "Draft-N". You'd be better off to wait for the spec to be finalized and then get an actual 802.11n card rather than get a Pre-N card and hope that nothing major gets changed before the release.

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Router differences?

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