need suggestion for a wireless n 802.11n router..

[gordita]

so i've been using a buffalo WBR-g54 router and I think it's time to go to 802.11n
the buffalo needs to be rebooted everyday and it's becoming a pain in the behind.

This is how I intend to use the new router:

#1 wireless n to support a macbook pro and a dell D630.
both the laptops have inbuilt 'n' cards.

#2 a NAS box which will be wired into the router.
I'm still looking for a NAS device that does RAID 1 + can support utorrent + can easily be identified as a mapped drive on OS X and win xp/vista.

#3. I would *prefer* for the router to have a usb port so I can connect my canon pixma photo printer to the router and can print from both my laptops.

so, can the gurus please chime in as to which router would fit the bill.
my budget is up to $150

do I need a dual band router if I have no legacy (b/g) devices?

can the dlink/linksys routers I'm looking at be set to operate only on the 5Ghz frequency for my wireless devices?

I guess I'm not sure what a dual band router would buy me in terms of wireless bandwidth and range.

Also, last question.
Assume I have a laptop at about 40 ft from a buffalo 'g' router. now, if I replace the buffalo with a 'n' router, do I get faster transfer speed and also do I get a wi-fi signal at a larger distance away from the router?

Gracias

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: gordita
so i've been using a buffalo WBR-g54 router and I think it's time to go to 802.11n
the buffalo needs to be rebooted everyday and it's becoming a pain in the behind.

This is how I intend to use the new router:

#1 wireless n to support a macbook pro and a dell D630.
both the laptops have inbuilt 'n' cards.

#2 a NAS box which will be wired into the router.
I'm still looking for a NAS device that does RAID 1 + can support utorrent + can easily be identified as a mapped drive on OS X and win xp/vista.

#3. I would *prefer* for the router to have a usb port so I can connect my canon pixma photo printer to the router and can print from both my laptops.

so, can the gurus please chime in as to which router would fit the bill.
my budget is up to $150

do I need a dual band router if I have no legacy (b/g) devices?

can the dlink/linksys routers I'm looking at be set to operate only on the 5Ghz frequency for my wireless devices?

I guess I'm not sure what a dual band router would buy me in terms of wireless bandwidth and range.

Also, last question.
Assume I have a laptop at about 40 ft from a buffalo 'g' router. now, if I replace the buffalo with a 'n' router, do I get faster transfer speed and also do I get a wi-fi signal at a larger distance away from the router?

Gracias

HAhaha...I had that same router. That thing just reoobted every 2 hours. It was annoying. Everyone was raving about that router too...

I have no idea what the actual n spec is, but I think it is a higher frequency. Higher frequencies are great for open spaces, but they also reflect more off objects.

 

[kevnich2]

Why don't you just keep your existing WBR-G54 and just flash the thing with DDWRT? It'll definitely take care of the rebooting all the time. It'll still only be G wireless but N is still in draft mode. If you want 5ghz, look at a plain 802.11A access point.

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

I've got a Trendnet TEW-632BRP draft-N router that I picked up purely to use as a wireless connection for my Wii, and the price was right (somewhere sub-$30 after MIR).

I'm pretty sure the Wii doesn't connect at speeds greater than G, but it seems adequate enough to support the various online features, and is stable enough that I haven't needed to reboot it (although I have at least a couple of times to upgrade the firmware). Unfortunately, it's not DD-WRT or Tomato-compatible.