D-Link Wireless-N Router - Should I Buy

[SweetBe]

The PX is going to have a D-Link Wireless-N router for $19.95. I'm wondering, should I buy it? I currently have a WRT54G with DD-WRT on it. Seems fine, and has always worked. I don't think it has been off for 3 months.

What are the advantages of getting the wireless-N router? The only device on the network that has N is my MacBook Pro. There's a total of about 6 wireless devices that connect to it, with maybe 3 of them on the internet at once.

So, any advantages?

 

[berry120]

So, any advantages?

I'm afraid that's something you're going to have to tell us! The only two things that would possibly be any better are the range and the speed of the wireless connection to the mac. If neither of these are an issue (and remember that that's the speed of your wireless connection, NOT your internet connection) then I'd say it's not worth it at all. If on the other hand you frequently finding yourself wanting to use your mac just out of range of your current network and you're regularly maxing out the available wireless speed and wishing you had more, it might be a sound investment.

From what you've described though, I suspect the former applies

 

[SweetBe]

My usual area of studying in the house (and play ) is fairly far away from the WRT54G, and after doing various speedtests (http://speedtest.net), my internet speeds are maybe 1/3 of what they are when I'm closer to the router. Would the N help? YouTube videos are just highly unwatchable.

 

[berry120]

If that's the case then yes, N may well help you - in fact it probably will.

However, if your "usual area" is fixed (sounds like it is!) then why not run a length of cat5 over there instead? You'll get better speeds and reliability than wireless will give you, it'll probably be cheaper to run a cable than getting a new router and it'll almost definitely work (whereas upgrading to N falls in the category of "probably" or "might" work.)

 

[SweetBe]

It'll help wireless-G's range, right? Would be good for my parents as well, since they're usually fairly far away from it too.

Don't really want to run a cable anywhere. Wouldn't look to good.

I mean, the speeds are alright, not really complaining... Just wondering if I should get this, and I probably will this Friday.

 

[berry120]

Would be good for my parents as well, since they're usually fairly far away from it too.

If the only thing that's got N is your macbook, it won't make the slightest bit of difference to anyone else.

 

[Celegorm]

That's a good router. I had a hw. revision B that I eneded up giving to my parents when I went gigabit. The original BIOS sucked but now D-link released new ones and it's a lot more stable.

If you need anything that requires a VPN though, stay away from it. It would allow my vpn's to connect, but after ten minutes I could no longer access things through the vpn.

 

[jmacavali]

Yes, both the router and the laptop/wireless adapter need to be N to get N speeds. However the range of the router will still improve (assuming ideal conditions) no matter which adapter you've got.

 

[SweetBe]

So I bought this Belkin N+ router from Costco today: http://bit.ly/6GCVhg

Didn't open a manual or use the included disc for anything. Just plugged in the cables and started using the internet. It used the same power adapter as the WRT54G which was sort of nice.

I get 108Mbps in my usual area which is nice. I get 12Mbps down, .5Mbps up, which is normal, even when connected through ethernet.

I still can't watch YouTube videos. It'll play maybe 3 seconds of a video and stop for maybe 5 seconds, then play again for a few more. Guess it's just my crappy ISP (Time Warner Cable).

EDIT: So I just went ahead and tried to directly download a YouTube video, and I only get like 30KB/s down. Is it my ISP or YouTube? I think it's my ISP...
EDIT2: All of a sudden, all YouTube videos seem to be playing just fine, even HD ones. Coincidence?