Help me decide on wireless setup at home

tmchow

Senior member
Oct 10, 1999
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Okay, right now I have a DSL connected to a 4 port SMC barracade router, which has a linksys 802.11b (WAP11) access point attached to it. This setup was serving my needs great up to recently when i'm in need for faster wireless solution and a better router.

(Note: I'll refer to 802.11b as B, 802.11a as A and 802.11g as G to make things easier :))


I'm undecided as to what I shoudl do for the "faster" wireless performance. My notebook has a built in B card which is useful at work, but I'd be willing to buy a new card solely for home. Additionally, I have a 5000 series replayTV which I'm connecting wireless via the B access point -- this is WAY too slow though if I want to xfer video off the replay. So again, I dont mind buying a A or G solution for the replay either.


[*]I know that when a wireless router (or access point) is operating in mixed mode, all the reviews say that performance suffers by a HUGE margin. Thus I will be keeping the linksys B access point so that the A/G router will not suffer this perf hit. (I'm correct on this right?)
[*]I know that 2.4Ghz cordless phones interfere with B and G wireless networks, but 5 Ghz phones do not. So I now have a 5Ghz phone. But will this 5Ghz phone interfere with an A network?

My impression is that G is more favorable by ppl since it is backwards compatible with B devices and a lot of ppl have B devices deployed. However, in my situation, I have a B access point already so I'm not too concerned about that.

So in addition to my above questions, I guess the real question is whether I should be going with wireless router that is A or G. Is A really faster than G? I'm reading conflicting reports.
 

JackMDS

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 25, 1999
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Link: 802.11a/b/g SOHO Routers & Access Points: Performance

The differences between the first set of graphs to the second represent the performance differences between 802.11b to 802.11g. It might give you a good idea about indoor's distance coverage. Your actual distance might be different. Indoor coverage depends heavily on the envioroment; graphs like this should be used to understand the relation in performance between Wireless hardware. .
 

tmchow

Senior member
Oct 10, 1999
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so it looks like many of the G access points actually outperform the A's. Interesting. Anyone have answers to my other questions above?