Gaming Upgrading wireless router?

[Harsky]

About 5 years ago I bought a Netgear 54Mbps DG834G wireless router to get into the whole Wii online gaming at the time. Although I don't use it for online much anymore but it's become an essential device for everyone in the house with a laptop. At the moment, I can download as fast as my telephone line can manage so is there any real advantage in buying an N wireless router if I'm not going to be transfering files or streaming music?

 

[qwertymodo]

Wireless N will increase your wireless range and local network transfer speeds, provided your wireless devices have N capabilities. It won't affect the Wii because the Wii only has wireless G.

 

[Rydian]

It will not make your internet download speeds any faster.

N has a better range (distance) than G, but the receiving device has to be N as well (not A/B/G).

 

[Scorpei]

It will not make your internet download speeds any faster.

N has a better range (distance) than G, but the receiving device has to be N as well (not A/B/G).

Although true, the limiting factor is often crappy placement or the laptop/pc side. If your router manages O and your laptop o you can try all you like but unless o reaches the center of O your extended range goes to waste

. At that point you're better off getting better antennas increasing the quality of your signal (pickup).

 

[Originality]

That's not entirely true - if the router has better/more antenna giving a stronger signal (i.e. N), then the effective range of connected devices (i.e. laptops, even if they only manage G) increase somewhat. I'm too lazy to try and explain the science behind it, since the difference is rather small and nobody cares anyway. I've never had a problem with the range or signal strength of WiFi-G, although having WiFi-N does make the network that much faster.

 

[playallday]

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