802.11g - Don't bother with it. It's not yet reliable.

brxndxn

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2001
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I ordered a USR 802.11g 'turbo' router (advertises 100mbps) along with a USR 802.11g PCI and a PCMCIA card. I figured I would upgrade my brother's computer and my laptop connection while I kept my roomates using their 802.11b cards.

After a week of nonreliability (we would get disconnected at random) and inability to share files (they would always time out), I have given up. I called USR and they walked me through sh!t like I was a dumbass. Then, they told me that sometimes I would have to unplug it and plug it again... release and renew ips... sometimes I would even have to reinstall the cards.. They basically told me that I should wait for firmware upgrades during the next couple of months to fix everything. The damn router would still disconnect us at random from the network (sometimes my roomates could access files while I couldn't.. sometimes vise-versa).

My 802.11b Linksys router never made me do that. It never times out. It never makes me reboot my computer or release/renew my IP.

Also, the speed difference was negligible. When I did finally get it to transfer a 600mb file, it took just slightly less than my 802.11b network.

So, from my experience, I would stick with 802.11b. I went back to it and I'll happily stay there.
 

Bruck

Senior member
Aug 6, 2003
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I have been using a linksys 802.11g router for a few months now at my parents house with absoluletly no problems, perhaps youa re comparings one brand of product to another.

p.s. G routers do B perfectly fine, so you should have been able to turn all your settings "down" to b, and if you are correct instating that G is the culprate all of your troubles would vanish, but i am sure they wouldnt sounds like a crappy piece of hardware not networking standard.
 

gunrunnerjohn

Golden Member
Nov 2, 2002
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I'd also wonder about the tinkering done to make the "turbo" mode. I've also seen good results with 802.11g products, though they range does seem a bit shorter than 802.11b. And I've experienced no issues with interoperability with 802.11b devices.
 

JackMDS

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 25, 1999
29,516
407
126
brxndxn, nice post.

The only problem is the heading.

Counting on your 802.11g attempt it should be.

The USR 802.11g unit that I got is not not yet reliable.
 

loup garou

Lifer
Feb 17, 2000
35,132
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Ok, so since *you* had a problem with *one brand* of soho equipment a whole technology should be considered unreliable. Got it.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
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802.11g is every bit as reliable as 802.11b.

One experience with one piece of gear does not doom an entire technology.
 

phillyTIM

Golden Member
Jan 12, 2001
1,942
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I've had GREAT experience with real-world practice of 802.11g installations.

At best, you get significantly higher transfer rates than 802.11b, at worst you get 802.11b speeds in some cases (and for practically the same, if not just a bit more, price).