Wireless N

[laserlight]

Recently I considered getting a wireless N router as a way of extending the range of my home network. I picked up a Netgear WNR2000 router at a local store, but prior to purchase decided to ask a sales assistant about it, considering that the specification is still a draft.

The reply was that the store had seen quite a number of returns of wireless N products due to instability that sometimes only surfaced after a month of operation. At that point, I decided to hold off my purchase (though I also did not buy any range extenders since I can live with my current network range).

However, is this merely some anomaly, or is it true that the current wireless N products are typically unstable, perhaps because of a specification that has not been sufficiently tuned? What are your experiences with these products?

[Elysia]

I know for sure that the 802.11G part of my wireless N router works.
I did have some problems with the wireless N network. I never figured out if it was a faulty external network card or the router itself.
Nevertheless, using wireless G and LAN works perfectly, so...

[VirtualAce]

I just bought a Wireless N router and card and I'm not extremely satisfied. The signal is great but I still lose connection quite a bit and the router is just in another room across the hall. Also the card sometimes says it is connected but ipconfig /renew just won't renew the IP address. My wife and I have different profiles on XP and if she logs on to hers and logs off and then I log onto mine, the Wireless N LinkSys NIC gets confused and just won't work on my profile. The monitoring app that runs in the systray does not start in my profile and clicking on the app doesn't do anything.

Sometimes I've had to literally unplug my router from the other room and plug it into my PC just to get it to recognize the router. Also LinkSys-N routers do not support remote configuration so you must connect it to your PC first to configure it and then you can go wireless. My 3G cell phone also seems to interfere badly with the antenna for the NIC and will cause a drop in connection. Sometimes I have to manually search and reconnect several times for it to come back up. I've also had to shut down the cable modem and router in order to regain network connectivity. It's as if the router just went nuts and had to be reset to start working again. I've also had it appear to just stop broadcasting signal for no apparent reason.

I would say wireless N has a way to go before becoming reliable.

The speed is 100% satisfactory. Reliability is at around 50% for me. Note that both my NIC and router are LinkSys so I have no information regarding other brands.

[jwenting]

Those problems could be due to someone else (like your neighbours) having a router on the same channel that's interfering with yours and blanketing the signal, making it hard to pick up.
Try setting your router to use a different channel from the default and see what happens.

Should do that with my Thomson, the neighbours have the same device and it's a bit hit and miss whether I see my own (when I do see it the signal is great, as strong as or stronger than theirs).

[laserlight]

The speed is 100% satisfactory. Reliability is at around 50% for me.

Linksys seems popular, but strangely I had reliability problems with one of their most popular wireless G routers. Whenever it rained, my mother's computer would just go offline as the signal disappeared. I replaced it with a D-Link router that worked fine... but recently when I was not at home, some electrical technicians came over to do something. She was supposed to switch off all electrical equipment, but managed to forget the router, which apparently got fried by a surge.

Anyway, I happened to pop by a computer fair that sold the Netgear router I mentioned at 99 SGD (about 65.5 USD), so I decided to just buy it and see how it goes. Unfortunately, my laptop is under repair at the moment, so I cannot easily go to the hall to test and see if the range actually increased as advertised.

[SlyMaelstrom]

I've had no problems with 802.11n in speed or reliability. I don't even have a particularly good N-Draft router, either. It's a Trendnet... they're like the discount brand. My wireless card is in my signature, as well. Between the two, I've had no problems with speed or reliability. That goes for both the 802.11g and 802.11n signals, as I send it mixed.

[VirtualAce]

My linksys is on channel 11 which is at least 5 channels away from every router my NIC finds around here. I thought about the channel issue as well but I'm on channel 11 and everyone around here is on 5 or 6.

[Elysia]

Many routers have automatic channel, too, to test if in doubt. I know mine does.
I have mine currently set on mixed n/g/b and automatic channel scan, and g wireless works just fine. I might be able to try n if I can find my n wireless thing...

[VirtualAce]

The weird thing is I rarely, if ever, don't see my router on my NIC monitor app. The NIC monitor says it's searching and claims to find it. However I don't think it really finds it and might be pulling from some cache it keeps. There is 1 time I've refreshed and not found my router. Most of the time, though, I reconnect and it says I'm connected...yet still no IP and no internet even though all the systray appears to be working just fine. I really didn't know that N has had issues until this thread. But some of the issues mentioned are exactly what I've been experiencing since purchasing this whole setup. Again I'm less than satisfied so far.

[Elysia]

All those wireless utilities are usually pretty poor and misleading. Windows Network is usually the best, although in terms of functionality, perhaps not XP. But Vista's Wireless Networking is pretty much superior to any utility you might find out there.
At least it tells you when you are connected or not.
Well, testing my N right now. So far it works. 100% signal.

[VirtualAce]

I can have 90 to 100% signal and have no internet. Happens all the time. I also think my ISP somehow resets their connection at 10pm EST b/c after that I have problems and have to reconnect. I will say that LinkSys is simply lying about their signal though. They claim the router can be anywhere in the house (and they show a big house on the box) and you can still get great signal. I seriously doubt that. I'm just across the hall, prob not even 20 feet away, with my antenna elevated above everything and the max I ever get is about 89%. Downstairs I would shudder to think what I would get.
Definite advertising ploy that is just not true.

[laserlight]

Sadly, the range did not seem to be sufficiently better. However, now that I have two routers, I just configured the old one to be a wireless access point