Good cable wireless router? - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Totally Dubbed 

What is the difference with getting dual band or not?

According to linksys it uses both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz band (802.11a and 802.11g) simultaneously.

So it should mean less interference. The problem with the 2.4GHz band is that it there are other things on the same frequency (like bluetooth, phones and microwaves) so there is a lot of interference on there. The advantage of it is that the range of the 2.4 GHz band is better at providing a signal through walls. As you might have guessed the 5 GHz band isn't as good at providing a good signal through solid objects, but it's far less crowded so there is less interference from other devices.

Since you can use a so called 'mixed mode' on most wireless N (802.11n) access points I'm not really sure what the actual advantage of a dual band router is. I'm afraid my knowledge doesn't go that far. Maybe someone who is more knowledgeable about wireless networking can step in.

You should also consider the safety of a wireless network and how paranoid you want to be. Most wireless networks can be hacked reasonably easily and it's for you to decide whether your neighbours are capable and willing to do such things. My neighbours have passed 60 and can barely turn on a computer so I'm not extremely worried about it. It's still something you should think about in my opinion.

And just for your information, I'm using a linksys router myself and have been doing so for several years. Never had any real problems with it. And I think I've rebooted it maybe once or twice in the last 3 years.

After reading my post I see I still haven't answered the question, but maybe it will help you in some way or another anyway. :)
 

Quote:

The difference is simple.  With simultaneous dual-band, you can run 11g and 11n devices at the same time at full speed.  If you're running a mixed mode router and an 11g device is present on the network, all the devices get bumped down to 54mbps regardless of their capability or not.

Bottom line, if you have some devices that are 11n and others that are 11g, get a simultaneous dual band router so that the 11n devices can run full speed.

I just bought a Cisco/Linksys E3000 but I have not set it up yet.  I moved and I needed a bit more range than my WRT54GL w/ DD-WRT could give me.  I'm also not able to run as much CAT5 as was in my last place so the higher wireless speeds are a plus as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EnOYiN 

You should also consider the safety of a wireless network and how paranoid you want to be. Most wireless networks can be hacked reasonably easily and it's for you to decide whether your neighbours are capable and willing to do such things. My neighbours have passed 60 and can barely turn on a computer so I'm not extremely worried about it. It's still something you should think about in my opinion.

Use WPA2, shut off SSID broadcast and enable MAC address filtering.  All those will make it more difficult to hack a wireless network.  Of course, it also makes it a pain if you have any guests come over who want to connect....

Quote:

Originally Posted by leftnose 

The difference is simple.  With simultaneous dual-band, you can run 11g and 11n devices at the same time at full speed.  If you're running a mixed mode router and an 11g device is present on the network, all the devices get bumped down to 54mbps regardless of their capability or not.

 

Bottom line, if you have some devices that are 11n and others that are 11g, get a simultaneous dual band router so that the 11n devices can run full speed.

 

I just bought a Cisco/Linksys E3000 but I have not set it up yet.  I moved and I needed a bit more range than my WRT54GL w/ DD-WRT could give me.  I'm also not able to run as much CAT5 as was in my last place so the higher wireless speeds are a plus as well.

 

 

Use WPA2, shut off SSID broadcast and enable MAC address filtering.  All those will make it more difficult to hack a wireless network.  Of course, it also makes it a pain if you have any guests come over who want to connect....

Thanks, I didn't know that bit about the mixed mode, but since I'm just running wireless N devices with a wireless N router I suppose I never had to worry about it either. I guess I should have known such things since I did complete my CCNA not that long ago. Oh well, maybe I should go on and get CCNP Wireless some time.

By the way, my wireless network uses WEP. Like I said, I'm not really worried about that myself, but I can imagine that if you're living in an appartment complex with 50 IT students you might think differently about such things. And then again, even using WPA2, not showing your SSID etc. will only delay a hacker. After all, everyone can google Backtrack or what have you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Totally Dubbed 

Thanks man :)

Well looks like i'm going for a dual band linksys router then!

 

Although are they compatible with xbox 360's?

And do they cause any problem with gaming? Such as ports or what not?

As my old netgear had many problems such as NAT settings and what not.

I haven't got a clue whether or not those things are compatible with xbox 360s. Probably are, but since I haven't got one I can't be sure.

I've been pretty happy about the lag or rather the absence of it during my gaming sessions. A wireless network will probably give you a slightly higher latency than a wired network, but nothing extremely horrible in my opinion.

On to the ports. Never had a single problem opening, closing or forwarding or ports on my router. I'd say that if a device won't allow you to change such basic things you can't really call it a router.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Totally Dubbed 

Thanks for the replies :D!

No problem.