Ross In PH
New Around Here
First of all, thanks for all the great info on this site. What an excellent resource!
Here's my situation. I have a Linksys WRT54G that's a four or five years old. It still functions well. I have recently added three new notebooks with internal Wireless N adapters, including the computer that I use heavily all day in my home office. So, to take advantage of the potential higher speed, I am considering adding a Wireless N router to my network, either to supplement or replace my Linksys G router.
My first thought was to simply get a basic N router such as the D-Link DIR-615, replacing the Linksys. But then I read on this site about the effect of older B and G devices on N networks, essentially dragging the speed down to their level.
So I next considered a much more robust router, a dual band dual radio device such as the new Netgear WNDR3700. I would segregate the legacy devices to the 2.4 GHz band, while reserving the 5.0GHz band for the new N computers. This would give me the additional advantage of a gigabit wired connection for my desktop. But apparently having B & G devices connected to the router, even on another band, will still slow down the N machines. Is that correct?
So, having read even more articles here, my latest scheme is to keep the Linksys G router on the network for the older devices, connecting the input of the Linksys to a wired output on a new N router, and of course using the new router for the three N computers and the wired desktop. If I do this, do I still need a dual band, dual radio N router?
A further consideration - I am only able to use WEP on the older devices, because my wireless network printer is not capable of anything better. If I keep the printer connected to the old Linksys, will the computers on the new N side of the network still be able to send print jobs to it? Presumably I'd be able to use WPA or WPA2 on the N network.
Please, some advice on which type of N router to buy! Here's what is connected to the old Linksys now. All these devices would have to be accommodated on the new routers or combination:
HP Desktop - Vista Home Premium 32 bit (Wired)
Sony Blu-Ray Player (Wired)
HP Notebook - Vista Business 64 bit (N)
Toshiba Notebook - Vista Home Premium 64 bit (N)
Another Toshiba Notebook - Vista Home Premium 64 bit (N)
Acer Notebook - Vista Home Premium 32 bit (G)
Dell Desktop - XP Home (G)
HP Multi-Function Printer (B or G - honestly can't remember)
TiVo (G)
HTC Touch Pro Phone (G)
Any help you can lend would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to give me a specific model if you know one or more that's ideal.
Thanks so much!!
Here's my situation. I have a Linksys WRT54G that's a four or five years old. It still functions well. I have recently added three new notebooks with internal Wireless N adapters, including the computer that I use heavily all day in my home office. So, to take advantage of the potential higher speed, I am considering adding a Wireless N router to my network, either to supplement or replace my Linksys G router.
My first thought was to simply get a basic N router such as the D-Link DIR-615, replacing the Linksys. But then I read on this site about the effect of older B and G devices on N networks, essentially dragging the speed down to their level.
So I next considered a much more robust router, a dual band dual radio device such as the new Netgear WNDR3700. I would segregate the legacy devices to the 2.4 GHz band, while reserving the 5.0GHz band for the new N computers. This would give me the additional advantage of a gigabit wired connection for my desktop. But apparently having B & G devices connected to the router, even on another band, will still slow down the N machines. Is that correct?
So, having read even more articles here, my latest scheme is to keep the Linksys G router on the network for the older devices, connecting the input of the Linksys to a wired output on a new N router, and of course using the new router for the three N computers and the wired desktop. If I do this, do I still need a dual band, dual radio N router?
A further consideration - I am only able to use WEP on the older devices, because my wireless network printer is not capable of anything better. If I keep the printer connected to the old Linksys, will the computers on the new N side of the network still be able to send print jobs to it? Presumably I'd be able to use WPA or WPA2 on the N network.
Please, some advice on which type of N router to buy! Here's what is connected to the old Linksys now. All these devices would have to be accommodated on the new routers or combination:
HP Desktop - Vista Home Premium 32 bit (Wired)
Sony Blu-Ray Player (Wired)
HP Notebook - Vista Business 64 bit (N)
Toshiba Notebook - Vista Home Premium 64 bit (N)
Another Toshiba Notebook - Vista Home Premium 64 bit (N)
Acer Notebook - Vista Home Premium 32 bit (G)
Dell Desktop - XP Home (G)
HP Multi-Function Printer (B or G - honestly can't remember)
TiVo (G)
HTC Touch Pro Phone (G)
Any help you can lend would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to give me a specific model if you know one or more that's ideal.
Thanks so much!!