Wireless help needed: what am i looking to buy?

[MovedGoalPosts]

Speedbooster is Linksys enhancement system to the standard 54mbps "g" speed system. Ultimately many manufacturer's claim an enhancement but what exactly you can get depends very much on your locality. Realistically any wireless systme us an "up to" speed, and frequently you will get less due to distance, reception quality, local interference, blah blah.

I've seen many manufacturer's clami 125mbps. That is realistically "n" standard territory.

Bear in mind your broadband speed maximum is 20mbps. If you have a g standard your broadband will be the limiting factor. If you buy "n" instead of "g" you will have even more in hand.

Linksys is a Cisco brand. That is some assurance on quality given the networking credentials they have. Buffalo could well be perfectly adequate, but they don't have the same brand name kudos.

Earlier versions of the Linksys WRT54GS series could be flashed with third party firmware, but I'm not sure about the current ones. That's why I suggested WRT54GL which is designed to be flashed. Firmware can allow you to boost your signal's amplification which could assist quality if you have thick walls and the like. No idea whether Buffalo stuff can be upgraded this way. I'd do a and see if there are many reports on issues with people wanting your type of useage especially p2p before I buy.

[beeverbeev]

well in my work we have routers put into three different sections: g(54), g+(125) and n(300) so its aa _rgo _ s thats messedlol. i am really edgin towards the linksys but dont want the 54 to be my downfall as i'll be playin games and all sorts. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-High-...2225760&sr=8-5 this is the new one competing againt the linksys, i found some pretty stinky reviews on the buffalo i think the fight now is do you think the firmware will do enough to compete against a g+router or would it just be safer to buy bigger?

[MovedGoalPosts]

Personally, I don't game wirelessly, so I really can't answer you on which you must go for. All I can say is the speed of g is that much higher than your boradband that it's currently OK. But if you want futureproofing, for even higher speed broadband you need the G+ or N standards.

[beeverbeev]

thats what i just came back to ask, about thinking ahead for the future. ok im going to go for the jump and buy the belkin. you'll hear from me when it shows up. thank you so much for all your responses so far x

---------- Post added at 00:52 ---------- Previous post was at 00:46 ----------

right hit another wall. whats the difference between G+ and pre-n MIMO ie http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...A24353FGHJSKXX cos for extra £2 it seems quite a big leap for little money but i kno naathin:P

---------- Post added at 00:55 ---------- Previous post was at 00:52 ----------

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatSecti...tion_Id=200340

[beeverbeev]

my other thing was i was fantasizing about the idea of using my laptop in other hot spots and such so would the pre-n card be more succesful in that sense?

[MovedGoalPosts]

Dunno that much about stuff beyond "g" speeds. I've always been happy with "g", given that that is the standard speed supported by my lappy's inbuilt adaptor.

Most wireless hotspots are going to be "b" or "g" speeds. "n" is quite new, and being not yet fully ratified, could have some incompatibilities between different kit providers. "n" type cards should be backwards compatible with "b" and "g", so you might be more future proofed, but technology moves in weird ways

[beeverbeev]

right i been reading up about pre-n n it seems okish but are the only imcompatibility problems going to come from different brands? ie will my pre-n card have problems connecting to g or n routers or anythin?

plus i found out that mimo just means it sends multiple amounts of data. bit like a torrent i guess the datas chopped up n sent smaller, creating less chance of data loss.

---------- Post added at 20:30 ---------- Previous post was at 19:55 ----------

just learnt as well that G+ routers are just G routers with MIMO capability:$ i so slow and it makes senselol

[beeverbeev]

ok im finding out different things from different sources and still havent bought anythin yet because of the pre-n thing. apparantly G+ routers are different from G+ MIMO ones even though some places say they are the same thing. my only concearn is this, whats the downside to going pre-n with my wirelesss card and will i have any connection problems with higher or lower ranged routers/hotspots? i kno i should have bought stuff by now but im a bum for jumpin into purchases and wanna know everythin i can this time round before looking the fool with kit thats not suitable.

thanks for your patience. x

[beeverbeev]

hey just to say thanks for all the advice, i took the jump and bought the belkin router and card, waited about for them to come then followed what you guys said and its sorted!! there was minor problems tryin to get an ethernet-wired modem to actually work with the pc but i think that was due to me tryin to disable the older connections instead of just uninstallin everythin n starting from scratch. Oh and the other problem was for some reason the usb cable modem had been installed a few times over itself, and when you go to device manager you can't actually uninstall the older attempts even if you click on view hidden stuff in view. You have to open the command promt and do a few things that has no relevance to my thank you aaanyway thanks again

[danielf]

Good to hear

Don't forget (if you haven't done so already) to sort the wireless security. You want WPA, not WEP.

[beeverbeev]

that was what i was actually going to ask next. ^^^^^^^^^^ i had a go myself but got a little stuck. like i said its a belkin router. i kno i have to access my router through my pc by enterin some kind of ip address (?? not sure though) and erk im stuck!

i live on a council estate so chances are they'll jus rob my actual router than just the signal