Question regarding N, N+ or N1 wireless routers

[Veni Vidi Vici]

Hi all

I have the bog standard free black Sagem wireless router from Sky. I use this for wireless internet surfing (with Mac which is 802.11N) and wired PS3 online gaming (which is 802.11B/G)

Will I notice any improvement if I buy a N, N+ or N1 wireless router or will I be wasting my money? I appreciate the PS3 only B/G not N but will a better router make the wired connection any faster?

Does anyone know what 802.11 rating the black Sagem wireless router has? Im guessing its either B or G

 

[chrissybhoy]

I would imagine the sagem would be wireless b/g. Buying a wireless N will not make your connection any faster as you are either using 802.11b/g wireless(802.11 has nothing to do with your wired connections). You will get a little faster connection if your mac is wireless N but what people should remember is that processors can't keep up with wireless N yet. So in other words No wait a while or make everything wired.

 

[beerhunter]

The WiFi on you Mac will perform better because the Sky routers are 802.11b/g but have no effect on your wired connection.

 

[beerhunter]

You will get a little faster connection if your mac is wireless N but what people should remember is that processors can't keep up with wireless N yet.

Err?

 

[chrissybhoy]

As far as I'm aware and standard processor can't process the information to the same scale that a wireless N says it can send it. If that makes sense

 

[mickevh]

Do you mean the processor in the router or the Mac..?

 

[t72bogie]

what so the processor in a Playstation 3 cant cope with 100-150Mbps?

does the PS3 have a gig ethernet port or just 10/100Mbps? ...if its the latter, I suspect thats where this confusion has arisen.....

 

[Veni Vidi Vici]

thanks for the replies everyone.

So the only reason people buy the N range of wireless routers is because of the extended range, or if their laptop/PC has Draft N wifi?

So the guy in PC World who told me the N range routers will speed up all wired connections was talking rubbish. Should have guessed really.

Are there any extra security extras these N routers have?

 

[beerhunter]

1. So the only reason people buy the N range of wireless routers is because of the extended range, or if their laptop/PC has Draft N wifi?

2. So the guy in PC World who told me the N range routers will speed up all wired connections was talking rubbish. Should have guessed really.

3. Are there any extra security extras these N routers have?

1. The latter, you need 802.11n devices to take advantge of its features. If you have 802.11g devices you just get that.

2. PC World strikes again! Where do they get them? They are going to be in real trouble next year when Best Buy start their store openings.

3. Not because of 802.11n but because they are more modern routers

 

[Veni Vidi Vici]

2. PC World strikes again! Where do they get them? They are going to be in real trouble next year when Best Buy start their store openings.

Thanks. Is there much difference in speed if you have a Draft N laptop and a wireless N router, compared to using a b/g router?

What did you mean by the PC World and Best Buy comment?

 

[t72bogie]

Thanks. Is there much difference in speed if you have a Draft N laptop and a wireless N router, compared to using a b/g router?

What did you mean by the PC World and Best Buy comment?

up to 5-6x at best....so yeah....but only for transfers between devices connected via wireless of course, will make no difference to your internet etc

 

[beerhunter]

What did you mean by the PC World and Best Buy comment?

There is a US Consumer Electrics/Electronics store called Best Buy - they are the largest in the world. They got that way by being good at what they do. Last year they bought 50% of Carphone Warehouse's retail business. Next year they will open their first two stores in Thurrock (Essex) and Hedge End (Southampton).

It is probably a coincidence but DSG will be opening a Currys store in Thurrock bigger than the Best Buy. In my opinion DSG are running scared - and for good reason.

 

[MacrosTheBlack]

Just my contribution here:

The Wireless N Router will only make your WIRED connections faster if it has built in Gigabit (1000) wired ports, which a lot of them do. So if your current router has 10/100 wired ports, yes it will be faster wired connections. BUT remember this will only be faster for your wired devices on the internal network, e.g. transfers or streams between a wired pc and wired ps3. As your internet connection will not be fast enough to benefit from the faster transfer rate (unless you live in South Korea!)

Also, were possible I would always hardwire your PS3, gaming and PS Store downloads are without doubt much better over the wired connection than the B/G wireless connection. So no wireless N will not benefit your PS3, only machines with a wireless N card.

Hope that's of some help.......