Setting up wireless router questions

doc2009 · 16-05-2009, 20:00

Posted this originally on the internet forum, only noticed this forum specific to networking after i posted.
Thanks in advance for anyone that provides help here.
I currently have 20 Mb internet with virgin. I have a netgear WPN824 MiMo wireless router. Have used various speed tests and had widely varying figures like probably everyone else. Have DU meter installed and when downloading large files i would reckon that the fastest download speed i have seen is about 12 to 14 Mb/s. I have now signed up to the 50 meg deal and am expecting an engineer to call on 19th May to instal. Now i have a few questions that i would hope someone can help me with,

1. Simple one, does the wireless router get delivered by the engineer or will he turn up with the modem and i will have to wait on the router coming later in the post.
2. If router is delivered by post, can i simply plug my exisitng WPN824 router into the new modem and continue using internet as normal. Is there conflicts between old style routers and new N type modem.
3. if my router does work with the modem, should i notice speed increases using an N type modem over older model.
4. I have read several postings on here that certainly do not flatter the wireless router supplied by Virgin, the wnr2000. The exisiting modem i have on the other hand does get good reviews. Now seeing that it is supposed to be able to handle speeds up to 108 Mbps could it theoretically perform as well as the WNR2000 that is meant to be able to handle speed up to 300Mbps. After all i am only looking to achieve 50 Mbps download......OK that last part was tongue in cheek, i know that using wireless will achieve nothing like this but my exisitng modem has aparently 8 inbuilt antennae and the WNR2000 only 2.
5. Final question,,,honest,,, I hope . Is that i have used a USB wireless dongle before and quite frankly, it was pants. Having this hanging out of side of laptop very quickly ended up with it breaking. I have looked at various laptop card adapters and there seems to be 2 that could be used. One is WPN511, which is not N compliant but is Multi in Multi out (MiMo), the other is WN511B which is N compliant. Does anyone have any experience of these cards and know which would be best buy. My 2 yr old laptop does have inbuilt wireless connection but only G type compliant.

Seriously, i know that is few questions but i do appreciate anyones input on how they see this setup panning out.

Thanks again.

Peter_ · 16-05-2009, 20:04

Your router has 7 antenna not 8 and the WNR2000 also comes with a USB wireless N dongle so as in the previous post you will not be supported on slow speeds using a G router so use the one supplied and keep your old one as a spare.