802.11N

[imported_slyadams]

Howdy chaps. My home network is relatively simple. I've got an ADSL modem/router downstairs in my hall where I have a wireless switch plugged in. My housemate connects over the wireless and I have run a cat5 cable to my room for gaming. I've always found 802.11g unreliable and a little laggy for gaming. I've also got a media centre in my living room that is currently not plugged in.

I was thinking of running a cat5 cable through a wall and into the living room to connect up the media centre, but I've read pretty good things about 802.11N so I was thinking of removing all wires from the setup and replacing the wireless switch by my router with this:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products...sp?WebProductID=747634

And using these:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products...sp?WebProductID=487767

In my PC and media centre.

Any thoughts or gotchas?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Griffinhart]

Originally posted by: slyadams
Howdy chaps. My home network is relatively simple. I've got an ADSL modem/router downstairs in my hall where I have a wireless switch plugged in. My housemate connects over the wireless and I have run a cat5 cable to my room for gaming. I've always found 802.11g unreliable and a little laggy for gaming. I've also got a media centre in my living room that is currently not plugged in.

11g itself is fine for gaming. The problem is usually in the router. My personal experience is that too many 11g routers are low quality crap at the moment. That's not to say they are all bad, but it seems to be a lot more hit or miss than it used to be.

I was thinking of running a cat5 cable through a wall and into the living room to connect up the media centre, but I've read pretty good things about 802.11N so I was thinking of removing all wires from the setup and replacing the wireless switch by my router with this:

If you have the option to use a cable, use it. Even the best wireless router with the best signal to the PC isn't going to match a wired PC running Gigabit. It's also worth mentioning that if you would like to eventually stream media over your network from your media center a wired connection to the media center works best.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products...sp?WebProductID=747634

The DIR-655 is a better option. It is more expensive though. It uses a better radio and it has a gigabit switch. 11n routers can boast max speeds of 300Mb all they like, but if the basic hardware is only running 10/100 it's almost pointless. Sure you'll get faster than 11g, but you will get slower speeds than you should. And with current 11n products, you still won't get anywhere near 300Mb. I tend to max out at about 120Mb on my network with the average being closer to 110Mb.

And using these:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products...sp?WebProductID=487767

In my PC and media centre.

Any thoughts or gotchas?

Thanks in advance.

As I said, media centers are usually better off if hard wired. But if you really want to use a wireless network board with it, I can't honestly recommend that specific board. I have tried two of them in my PC and both caused my desktop to just lock periodically. The odd thing is that my laptop runs the PCMCIA version of this adapter and has no issues.

In the end, I picked up a Linksys WMP300N PCI adapter and it has worked very well with my DIR-655.

 

[Venomous]

I just installed a DIR-655 D-Link last night. Great performance and got it at BB yesterday for $120 out there door. My Laptop is a new HP DV9500T with C2D and Intel Wireless A/G/N and i get great speeds inside the house. Radio signal drops out to about half.

Im very happy with this router. It also is one of the highest rated out there for N.