knowing what router to get? Networking gurus...help.

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@wlsmith wrote:
I am waiting for my E1505 laptop & I chose the Intel Pro/Wireless 3945 Internal Wireless and Bluetooth. My order details put (54mbps) along with the description.

Question that I'm confused about...there are routers that have speeds to 108mbps..will my option do me no good if I get the routers that say that?
In other words, will I never be able to reach that speed with the option I chose?

The NETGEAR Wireless "G" Cable/DSL Router With 4-Port Switch that can get around $50 says speeds of 54mbps, but the NETGEAR RangeMax 802.11g Cable/DSL Router around $120 has speed of 108Mbps. The RangeMax seems to be better with dead spots and interferance, but will this still not give me the speed that it can handle?

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They will fall back to standard 802.11g speeds, which uses a 54 Mbps signaling rate. Real world throughput for 802.11g is typically around 50% of this. 108 Mbps is achieved via extensions to 802.11g that are not standardized and thus will not work with chipsets made by another manufacturer. (In the case of anything that advertises 108 Mbps speeds, it uses silicon from Atheros, so any non-Atheros equipment will fall back to 54 Mbps). Keep in mind that the technique used to achieve 108 Mbps signaling rates causes significantly more interference to nearby networks than standard 54 Mbps systems, and conversely, neighboring networks are more likely to interfere with yours. Many people have found that their 108 Mbps-capable hardware actually performs more consistently when forced into standard 54 Mbps mode.

Note that unless you are transferring files between machines on your local network, your Internet connection will usually be the bottleneck. It's rare to see more than 15 Mbps from an Internet provider, and less than 10 is more typical.

Note that there are some performance tweaks allowed within the 802.11g standard, so even with standards-compliant cards, not all routers are created equal. This is especially so for the RangeMax WPN824 (not other RangeMax models like the RangeMax 240 WPNT834 and the RangeMax Next series), which in addition to having a very nice wireless chipset has an incredibly well designed antenna system. The WPN824 is the router I bought, despite the fact that I *never* run in any nonstandard (> 54 Mbps modes) and I am very happy when using it combined with the Intel 3945 in my Inspiron E1705.

To summarize: No, you will not be able to run at 108 Mbps with the WPN824 and the Intel 8945. You will, though, see potentially significant improvements in actual 54 Mbps performance (range, real-world throughput) with the WPN824 in G-only mode vs. the cheaper router.

Gotcha.
Thanks for your input.

I would avoid the Netgear WPNT834 for now. The Intel Wireless/Pro 3945 cause it to crash. Here is the relevant known issue note from a Netgear support page:

The Intel Centrino 3945ABG client sends out QoS null frames that will cause a reboot.
Workaround: Disable the 11e QoS in Intel Centrino 3945ABG Configuration > Advanced Properties.

The workaround does not work in all cases. I am currently waiting on Netgear L2 support for a fix.

I don't trust NetGear and WILL never trust NetGear.

You should look into getting a Linksys, I've had nothing but good luck with them, on the other hand, the 3 NetGear routers I had bought in the past never impressed me. They ALWAYS dropped signal and interfered with.

Linksys also uses Cisco Systems. ;)

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@B_Coppins wrote:
I don't trust NetGear and WILL never trust NetGear.

You should look into getting a Linksys, I've had nothing but good luck with them, on the other hand, the 3 NetGear routers I had bought in the past never impressed me. They ALWAYS dropped signal and interfered with.

Linksys also uses Cisco Systems. ;)

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I've had just the opposite results. With the exception of one minor problem that was easy to work around (issues with DNS forwarding), my Netgear router works perfectly. I have never used Linksys products myself, the main reason for that is that a friend of mine HAS used at least two different Linksys models including the venerable WRT54G, in the case of the first one he tried the router would not last more than 15 minutes without crashing, and in the second case it refused to ever obtain an IP address from DHCP from his service provider.

Linksys does not use Cisco Systems. Linksys is OWNED by Cisco Systems and since the buyout has exhibited significantly reduced quality control and reliability - Cisco is intenitonally preventing their Linksys division from cannibalizing their highend (high-profit) Cisco-branded market by forcing Linksys to be the el-cheapo "value" brand.

I will agree with staying away from the WPNT834 as it uses a chipset from Airgo and provides basically no benefits whatsoever to non-Airgo client hardware (in short, basically anything other than the associated RangeMax 240 client products). My parents DO have one though and it has been quite reliable and has exhibited no problems whatsoever when I go home and use my E1705 (Intel 3945 chipset) at home.

Just to clarify - In my opinion nearly every consumer-grade router is a piece of junk nowadays, unfortunately. :(

Message Edited by Entropy42 on 08-01-200608:33 AM

I have purchased the Netgear WPN824 today & I'm expecting the laptop Wed-Fri.
I will post how mine does. Hopefully..no problems. :-)

Added:
Well, I have received the Dell laptop & activated the Netgear RangeMax WPN824 & I'm happy with it. The Intel Pro wireless card & this type router works well. The old laptop which has to stay on AC power is plugged into a port on the router & goes online with no changes needed. It shows I get 100mbps on that computer. The new laptop from Dell is wireless & it says that it's connected at 54mbps(max for card). I really can't tell a difference in my dsl speed on the wireless laptop. I have it the kitchen & is fine with microwave or phones. It ranges from 2 green bars to full bars on my connection. I also chose the WPA encryption over the WEP during setup. Weird, cause I pick up about 5 neighbors & some don't even show the encrypton lock on their network..they should.

When I set up the router I wasted a lot of time figuring out the installation, but what I should have done was connect my dsl modem to the back of the computer to be online.....then, follow the install cd instructions. After I did that, it was activated & then connected router to the modem & other computer. Then went in kitchen with Dell laptop & it found the connection & I told it to connect & online. Really simple as long as you connect it to the internet first. :-)
My dsl modem is a Toshiba & I didn't have to make a connection setting on the Dell laptop to be online.

What still bothers me though is that the Windows setup for adding a wireless network didn't work & said something about Windows Zero something. And on Start - Show all Connections it shows the Intel Pro 3945 Wireless Connection as "Not Connected". Annoying to me, but I just ignored it, since it did pick up the router & am online. The taskbar shows the computer icon with the 2 sound waves for the Wireless Connection with a red X (since it says Not Connected) that I would like to take off, but I leave it alone.

A lot of things preload in the taskbar & I noticed with being online (general purpose of this laptop) the battery is drained quickly. I charged overnight & still only had 80% charge then in a few hours back down to 20%.
Need to make some adjustments to things starting up & running, but I'm perty happy with it all. Also, monitor is dim if AC is not plugged in. Need to make that change somewhere because I want my display to stay bright.

All-in-all,no complaints about the router and Intel Pro 3945 card & I've been using it for about 3 days now.

Message Edited by wlsmith on 08-05-200611:10 AM