Wireless Draft-N vs Wireless-G

goblin1goblin1
edited June 2010 in Science & Tech
Hi,

Newbie here.

I was wondering, is there really much benefit to connecting via Wireless-N as opposed to Wireless-G? Will I notice the difference? I'm on a 10mbit connection, with a Draft-N router, but my desktop isn't Draft N-compatible, but.. I'm not sure if I'd see much of a difference if it was.

I'm considering http://www.cisco-routers.co.uk/u/pd/nwd170n-draft-n-10-300mbps-laptop-pc-card/91005159001b/771397
.. any thoughts?

Thanks in advance :)

Comments

  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited June 2010
    Your internet connection is still going to bottle neck you. Your internal wireless speeds only benefit you for transferring large files between computers inside your network. Also to gain the benefits of wireless N all connected wireless devices would have to be wireless N.

    In other words there's little benefit to upgrading to wireless N from G. There's nothing wrong with incorporating it into your network if you have to replace hardware anyway but it's virtually pointless to upgrade to N just for the sake of upgrading.
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited June 2010
    Second kryyst's statement. For most home users, the broadband is the fastest you can go. However, if you have multiple devices using the wireless and you want to share data, "N" would be faster and noticeable.
  • goblin1goblin1
    edited June 2010
    Yeah, I do a reasonable amount of file transferring between computers on the network, so it may be helpful :)

    I've since been told this - http://ramblax.co.uk/p~p-96172624~Linksys-WMP600N-WiFi-80211-N-Dual-Band-PCI-Card-4260039348245.aspx - would be more appropriate, since it's a) made for a desktop PC and b) Linksys-brand, like my router - agreed?
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited June 2010
    Yeah the first card you linked to is PCMCIA which typically is only for laptops. The second card is PCI which is for standard desktop installation.

    How are all your other computers connected to the network? Again they will only transfer files at the slowest speed. And when transferring files the speed difference between G and N won't really noticed until those files are in the 500mb plus range.

    So again just to recap. If you need to upgrade the wireless card then get N there's little reason not to. However if you are just thinking it's going to give you faster internet access it won't.
  • goblin1goblin1
    edited June 2010
    Other computers on the network are N-enabled, as is the router. It's just this one holdout desktop.

    Thanks for the advice :)
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