going to wireless N---5ghz or 2.4 ghz? router or access point?

[bwana]

So there are a growing number of ways to get a wireless N setup at home- routers (airport extreme, Dlink855 or 655, SMC SMCWGBR14-N, Netgear WNR834B, Linksys WRT 150N, trendnet,others) or wireless access points (Dlink 1522, Netgear, airport express, as well as others). There seems to be a theoretical advantage to those routers and access points which work on the 5 ghz frequency but then you dont have backwards compatibility to all the other client devices that require 2.4 ghz.

The mutant 'dual-band devices' have been spawned-some of which require you to select which frequency you want to use as well as those which have 2 radios in them and use both frequencies concurrently.

I cannot seem to get a handle on which device gives the best throughput and signal strength despite reading a lot of stuff here, as well as at the dslreports website. I am leaning towards the Dlink 1522 AP.

Since I have 2 ancient wireless b access points, my thinking is to replace them with wireless n access points that can fall back to 'b' and 'g' as well. But then you have the throughput gremlin-b/g drops 50% and n drops 30% when the same router tries to do both protocols.The alternative is to leave the ancient 'b' access points in place and to get the netgear AP which is 5 ghz only - simply add that to the network. or the dlink 1522 and turn off b/g?

Any suggestions/experience to recommend a different solution/device? is there a 5 ghz router or AP worth getting that does N better than a 2.4 ghz device?

 

[tipstir]

So there are a growing number of ways to get a wireless N setup at home- routers (airport extreme, Dlink855 or 655, SMC SMCWGBR14-N, Netgear WNR834B, Linksys WRT 150N, trendnet,others) or wireless access points (Dlink 1522, Netgear, airport express, as well as others). There seems to be a theoretical advantage to those routers and access points which work on the 5 ghz frequency but then you dont have backwards compatibility to all the other client devices that require 2.4 ghz.

The mutant 'dual-band devices' have been spawned-some of which require you to select which frequency you want to use as well as those which have 2 radios in them and use both frequencies concurrently.

I cannot seem to get a handle on which device gives the best throughput and signal strength despite reading a lot of stuff here, as well as at the dslreports website. I am leaning towards the Dlink 1522 AP.

Since I have 2 ancient wireless b access points, my thinking is to replace them with wireless n access points that can fall back to 'b' and 'g' as well. But then you have the throughput gremlin-b/g drops 50% and n drops 30% when the same router tries to do both protocols.The alternative is to leave the ancient 'b' access points in place and to get the netgear AP which is 5 ghz only - simply add that to the network. or the dlink 1522 and turn off b/g?

Any suggestions/experience to recommend a different solution/device? is there a 5 ghz router or AP worth getting that does N better than a 2.4 ghz device?

Wait next year 2009 where they should have worked out the bugs in 5.3GHz band. I am watching other countries to see what they release or ship here. Most to those who make products for DLINK are still in the 2.4GHz. They have also released 10/100/1000mbps PCMCIA NIC which isn't sold in the USA as I can't find no USA online retailer to carry that device. 11b is slow 11g is bit faster but it has it's up and down I use the G band to move and stream media for to watch on SDTV or HDTV.

My access points offer High Speed 125mbps they're also routers but are now in the bridge mode. Since DIR-655 can't handle 125mbps on G-mode only I loose out of that speed or using Frameburst. Still the data stream is moving at 100mbps as we all know here that 100mbps is really 60mbps. So 54G about 48mbps wireless still enough to work with.

If you want to move into 5GHz now you know it doesn't have the range of 2.4GHz band so it's limited don't know if that has to do with FCC here. The convince of wireless is nice to have but sometimes it can be a real pain to work with. I am sure by 2012 6GHZ for wireless will be out an etc.. But right now the 2.4GHz is were most user are at. As soon as 5GHz is more standard the price of Draft-N 2.4GHz devices will drop more.

 

[thiggins]

First see:
Thinking of Upgrading to Draft 11n? Here's What I'd Do...

The only advantage of 5 GHz over 2.4GHz is that you have more channels to work with and less chance of interference from another wireless LAN. The disadvantage is reduced range.

What are you looking for with your upgrade? Range? Speed? Both? What are our applications?

 

[bwana]

thank you for your replies. and the informative link. This is my situation- 3 laptops
2 macbooks with atheros radio- 1 has a wireless 'G' the other has an 'N'
1 dell xps 1530 with intel radio - wireless 'N'

2 wireless access points Netgear ME102 (wireless 'B'). Coverage is ok with a few dead spots on the premises. Their range is about 30 feet.
A neighbor's wireless network tends to cause some trouble .

House is wired with cat5 and gigabit switches. HD and SD stream from servers to desktops work fine over ethernet.

GOALS:
I want to give laptops access to video as well so that's why i want to go N.
I want to improve signal strength and avoid the neighbors network--that's why I want to go 5 ghz.(Unfortunately that would exclude one of the macbooks so i think i have to keep the 'b' access points just for the odd macbook so it can at least surf the net.)

Should I get a linksys wrt 600, linksys 610, or Dlink 655 and run it as an accesspoint, OR

should i get real access point - a dlink 1522, or a netgears at 5ghz?

If I go 5 ghz then it becomes a question of radio compatibility-what will work best with the intel in the dell and the atheros in the macbook? How about the ralink radio in the dlink 1522-how well will that work withthe dell and the macbook?

 

[thiggins]

Successful HD streaming over wireless is difficult to do. 5 GHz will get you out of the way of your neighbor's WLAN, but it will reduce your range.
HD Streaming Smackdown: Draft 11n vs. Powerline

Access point or router doesn't matter. Any router can be converted to an "Access point". How To Convert a Wireless Router into an Access Point

 

[bwana]

tnx for your help. i finally got the airport express. set it to bridge mode (to work as an AP) and set to 5 ghz mode, the network utility says i'm getting 270 mbs. my transfer speeds are better (4x) prob because of less interference.

plus it's portable so it can come with me on a trip.

 

[tipstir]

I like to add Powerline has it ups and down. If you house has be re-wired for electric or you live near the power transformer going to cause interference and older homes thus reducing the powerline performance.

 

[tipstir]

thank you for your replies. and the informative link. This is my situation- 3 laptops
2 macbooks with atheros radio- 1 has a wireless 'G' the other has an 'N'
1 dell xps 1530 with intel radio - wireless 'N'

2 wireless access points Netgear ME102 (wireless 'B'). Coverage is ok with a few dead spots on the premises. Their range is about 30 feet.
A neighbor's wireless network tends to cause some trouble .

House is wired with cat5 and gigabit switches. HD and SD stream from servers to desktops work fine over ethernet.

GOALS:
I want to give laptops access to video as well so that's why i want to go N.
I want to improve signal strength and avoid the neighbors network--that's why I want to go 5 ghz.(Unfortunately that would exclude one of the macbooks so i think i have to keep the 'b' access points just for the odd macbook so it can at least surf the net.)

Should I get a linksys wrt 600, linksys 610, or Dlink 655 and run it as an accesspoint, OR



should i get real access point - a dlink 1522, or a netgears at 5ghz?

If I go 5 ghz then it becomes a question of radio compatibility-what will work best with the intel in the dell and the atheros in the macbook? How about the ralink radio in the dlink 1522-how well will that work withthe dell and the macbook?

mix mode b/g/n but that reduces throughout. Newer 5GHz will be from 4.9GHz to 5.9GHz as will as 2.4GHz to 2.5GHz some routers have these figures. Data specs seem to be hard press to get. Right now I stream recorded media to wireless laptops, network media players, I use wireless access point in areas where the RSSI from the DIR-655 is very good by 10-20dB thus using the WAP gives me 20dB more so excellent. I am migrating to N to increase and reduce the interference and be able to use 3rd ANT in the loop.

Note: If you wait 802.11n 450mbps will be more available. Intel calls it 802.11n 3x.

DIR-655 is very popular the only problem is the firmware updates 1.20 giving users issues, so prior A3 hardware and firmware 1.11 is where most are right now.